Cape Town - An alleged brothel owner, facing charges of racketeering and money-laundering along with her daughter, portrayed herself as a devout Christian in court.
Selina Salie, 42, could be heard singing church hymns as she left Khayelitsha Regional Court on Thursday.
She even prayed from the steps of the courtroom moments after attacking a journalist.
Meanwhile, her daughter Nicole Fernandez, 24, also attacked and hurled threats at the media outside the court, beating one photographer with her handbag.
While relatives tried to calm her out-of-control daughter, Salie could be heard shouting: “Vir julle los ek in die Here se hande (God will deal with you). I pray for calm in the name of Jesus.”
Even inside court, Salie’s former employee painted her as a devout Christian.
Sex worker Mauricia Oliver testified that Salie gave her a promotion in the brothel before heading off to church.
The young woman says she was promoted to manager at one of Salie’s brothels a day after her birthday.
“Miss Selina gave me a present and told me, ‘You are manageress now’. She was probably on her way to church.”
Mauricia said the girls were always encouraged by a message of the day.
The messages were written inside a diary where the girls would record clients’ visits.
One of the messages read in court said: “Good luck girls. Don’t fake it, make it.”
Mauricia said she did not know the business was not allowed to operate.
She also gave the court steamy details about one of her four-hour sessions with a client.
“I would first give the client a full body massage to relax him,” she adds.
“Then I would give him the full house, that would be extras like a blowjob, boob job...”
“Sex wouldn’t usually happen but it happened on that day.”
She added: “When I started in Broad Road, Wynberg, the lady at [Nicky’s Angels] brothel didn’t say it was strictly massages but didn’t use the word sex either,” she said.
Mauricia, whose working name was Kelly, says she had been involved in the sex trade before.
“So she didn’t have to explain to me that it was not strictly massages,” she told the court.
Daily Voice