Cape Town - An abused 14-year-old girl was sold to old men for sex for three years – allegedly by her own mother – before the alarm was finally raised.
The teen was only 11 years old when she was allegedly groomed to be a child prostitute and sold to men for as little as R20.
And police sources have also revealed that detectives have not yet arrested a Cape doctor and three men from Mossel Bay involved in the child porn ring because they do not know their surnames.
State Prosecutor Geoffrey van Zyl on Tuesday told Cape Town Magistrates’ Court that the victim was sold for sex for three years before the Daily Voice finally lifted the lid on the shocking case late last year.
“The complainant is 14 years old. At the time these incidents started she was 11 years old,” Van Zyl said.
The case finally got underway on Tuesday when the bail application began for four of five accused – including the girl’s mother and stepfather – who are all linked to the child porn ring.
Prosecutors say the stepdad is also facing a charge of rape.
Her 47-year-old mother, stepfather and neighbours Marantha Lotrict, 28, Evelina Fortune, 30, and Denise Muller, 33, have all been charged with sexual exploitation, human trafficking and of accepting proceeds of immorality for offences that occurred at an informal settlement near Atlantis.
Lotrict on Tuesday admitted she formerly worked as a prostitute.
She was the first to take the witness stand for her bail application. And she has now pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“Before I was arrested [in November 2012], I was unemployed,” Marantha, whose hair was neatly plaited in cornrows, said.
“I worked as a prostitute, dit was pad werk [I worked on the road]. It was money in exchange for sex. I did it a year ago – and that was when my boyfriend wasn’t receiving an income – to feed my children.”
Lotrict revealed she is mom to five kids who are currently in the care of her sickly mother in Atlantis.
And that the fifth, aged one, has a father who pays child support.
She also admitted to formerly being convicted for housebreaking and theft. And claimed she committed the offence of housebreaking 10 years ago, for which she received a five-year suspended sentence.
The soft-spoken mom also pleaded guilty to two counts of theft seven years ago and was granted 20 and 30 days punishment.
The case will resume on February 12.
Daily Voice