KZN brothel case: final arguments begin

Ravina and Dr Genchen Rugnath leaving court after an appearance last year. Photo: Supplied

Ravina and Dr Genchen Rugnath leaving court after an appearance last year. Photo: Supplied

Published Jun 24, 2015

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Durban - On the first day of final arguments in the trial involving an uMhlanga doctor and his wife and three others, the State on Tuesday said it had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Dr Genchen Rugnath, his wife Ravina, as well as Sandile Zweni, Nduduzo Dlamini and Bhabha Dubazani have pleaded not guilty to more than 150 charges, including racketeering, human trafficking, rape and assault.

It is alleged that Inn Town Lodge, owned by the Rugnaths, was a brothel and was where women aged as young as 13 were found in February 2012.

State advocate Yuri Gangai on Tuesday addressed magistrate Simphiwe Hlophe on the State witnesses’ demeanour, their credibility and their inability to pinpoint the time and dates when incidents happened.

Gangai asked the court to bear in mind that many of the witnesses were recovering drug addicts whose life experiences and views were very different.

“I know the defence will spend a lot of time on the demeanour of our witnesses. In my view they were not unreliable, but had become irritated on occasion with matters that had already been answered, and could not be further described. Some of these witnesses were cross-examined from five to 35 days. Questions were repeated and went on and on. This must have had an effect on them,” he argued.

A Grade 10 pupil had testified for five days in the Durban Regional Court about her time as a prostitute, which began when she was 13.

She has alleged she worked for Zweni, whom the State has accused of operating a prostitution ring from the lodge.

The teenager had said she had been hit with a nail on her forehead and could not remember certain dates or events. When she was repeatedly asked for details by the doctor’s attorney, Anand Nepaul, she shouted at him, reminding him of her forehead injury, and then began crying.

Under cross-examination by advocate Jay Naidoo, Ravina Rugnath’s lawyer, she admitted to being a drug addict and that she had prostituted herself to buy drugs.

On their inability to pinpoint dates and times, Gangai said the charges were spread over 10 years and most of the witnesses were drug addicts and had described a typical day for them.

A 19-year-old former prostitute had described being introduced to the “wake-up” drug the girls were addicted to and took before going out on to the streets to ply their trade.

She said this drug was cocaine, which “they would give us to arouse our feelings”.

She had testified about how all the money they made from prostitution would be given to Zweni or the runners, and that they were never allowed to use any of the money themselves.

“We would have to use this money to buy drugs from Zweni and his runners. That was the rule. We worked for drugs,” she had said.

Gangai said certain events were traumatic for some of these witnesses, who said they wished to forget it.

Final arguments were expected to continue into next month and possibly further.

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