A 39-year-old man was on Wednesday charged with kidnapping a girl and turning her into his sex slave.
Nigerian national Christian Anynywu is accused of forcing a teenager into a seedy world of drugs and prostitution.
Anynywu was on the run for weeks after members of the City of Cape Town’s Vice Squad rescued a 16-year-old girl from a brothel.
The Durbanville teen was allegedly held against her will at the Parksig Villas complex in Bellville.
This was where Anynywu allegedly raped her repeatedly and then forced her to do drugs.
Afterwards he allegedly made her perform sexual acts on paying clients.
The distraught girl is now in a rehab programme to help her cope with her horrific ordeal and is staying in a place of safety.
Anynywu was arrested on Monday after the Vice Squad received a tip-off about his whereabouts.
The man appeared in the Bellville Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday where he faces charges of sexual exploitation, kidnapping and human trafficking.
Wearing a black puffy jacket that had a big hole in the left sleeve, Anynywu looked nervous as he entered the courtroom.
The short, ordinary-looking accused stood quietly and listened to an interpreter who explained court proceedings to him.
Prosecutor Andile Ngiba told the court the teenage girl had allegedly been held captive by Anynywu for almost two months.
“Witnesses saw a young girl amongst known prostitutes and when they approached her she told them she was being kept at Parksig Villas,” he told Magistrate Sadika Guendouz.
“She (the teen) said she had been there since May and she was forced to do drugs.
“The accused raped her and then he offered her for sexual services to clients.”
Shocked people let out gasps of disbelief as the litany of horrific crimes the Nigerian man is accused of were read out in court.
Ngiba told the court that the police needed some time to investigate whether Anynywu is in the country legally.
This would help them decide whether or not to oppose Anynywy’s release on bail.
He asked for a seven-day postponement so that this could be done.
Guendouz concurred.
* This article was published in the Daily Voice