A Nigerian man in South Africa has been given six life sentences and 129 years in jail as punishment for the trafficking of three girls for sexual exploitation.
The victims, 13 and 14-years-old girls from poor families, were lured from the street after being recruited by other girls used by sex trafficker Ediozi Odi. They were promised a better life but were instead trafficked into a brothel and locked up under the floor of the house.
Odi forced the girls to smoke a highly addictive drug called “rocks” upon their arrival at the brothel. Once they were high on the drug, Odi raped them to “to teach them the tools of the trade.”
Vanguard reports:
The victims were locked up in the house for the duration of their stay, while Odi send his workers to prowl the streets for prospective clients.
They were also locked up in a dungeon under the floor of the house whenever the police raided the house. A 14-year-old teenager was only rescued after a year, while two other victims were able to escape after a week when the police raided the house following a tip-off that the brothel master was going to move them to another premises. The girls were paid for their prostitution by means of drugs and they got hardly any food. The brothel master took all their proceeds.
The court also heard evidence that some police officials were bribed to turn a blind eye as to what was happening in the brothel. Judge Ranchod said that on the other hand, these girls were saved by other SAPS officials who took their work seriously, the IOL report also stated.
Odi was convicted of 24 of the 29 charges against him. He reportedly sat emotionless as the judge at Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa read out the verdict.
Odi received three life sentences on three charges of human trafficking and three more life sentences for each charge of rape. His appeals against the sentences were turned down, and the victims have now been reunited with their parents.
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Predators, at large, among us, preying on us and our children. My congratulations to the men and women of Pretoria who gave these children a measure of justice. Nothing can compensate for their experience, but the sentencing may serve as a deterrent to other Predators. Beware, creeping Predatory Capitalism, especially when ‘legalized’ by government. People should not be ‘prey’ for sex, gambling, loan sharking, etc.
South Africa has done what most governments around the world are dismally failing to do: tell child traffickers that they will not get off lightly in the courts. Bravo S. Africa! Shame to the rest of the world.
At last a “slaver” has got the sentence he deserves for trafficking minors, it will go in some small way towards easing the burden his selfish act has imposed on the children he enslaved, for they have to carry the memory of what happened to them for the rest of their lives, so should he.
I hope this monster gets repaid in kind in prison!