Pair get life for kidnap, enslaving woman

TWO men suspected of being part of a major Gauteng human trafficking syndicate have received life sentences for abducting a woman from the Northern Cape and forcing her into prostitution.

Frank Amaku and Ilo Somadina were convicted of six human trafficking charges after snatching Helena Boswell, not her real name, from Upington and keeping her at a home in Fourways,where she and three other women spent months working as prostitutes until they were rescued.

While the pair were convicted earlier this year at the high court in Joburg on the trafficking charges and kidnapping – with Amaku convicted on another charge of raping Boswell – they have denied their level of involvement, stating on multiple occasions they would appeal the conviction.

Amaku and Somadina were left to face the sentencing proceedings alone in the high court in Joburg as their advocate, Moleko Ratau, was hospitalised earlier this week.

Judge Cassim Moosa’s damning ruling acknowledged the prevalence, yet lack of quantifiable statistics, of human trafficking in South Africa. The sexual abuse of women and children, and exploiting them sexually for financial gain continues countrywide, the judge said.

He acknowledged prosecutor Lwazi Ngodwana’s argument that the court had to take into account the “horrific and unimaginable suffering of the victims” of such crimes, and that the pair had never shown remorse for forcing Boswell into drug addiction and prostitution.

Much of Judge Moosa’s ruling was based around a report submitted by Unisa lecturer and human trafficking expert Marcel van der Watt.

The report detailed the growing problem of human trafficking in South Africa, which was fast becoming one of the top 10 trafficking routes worldwide – and his analysis of Boswell’s case.

Van der Watt had identified five aggravating factors: the pair’s premeditation, the complexity of the crime and its links to other criminal activity such as money laundering, fraud and drug dealing, the dehumanisation of the victims, the use of drugs to push victims into more vulnerable states and the depravity of the sexual acts Boswell was forced to endure.

The judge also recalled the testimony of Boswell’s adoptive mother, who told the court that her child was still in dire need of psychological counselling, as she had yet to fully recover from her ordeal, and required full-time care since she was rescued.

The pair had failed to give any compelling mitigating arguments during the pre-sentencing proceedings, with Ratau only able to argue that Amaku and Somadina were fairly young, 22 and 27 respectively, and that they had never been convicted of any serious crimes.

Judge Moosa said the country’s rape statistics remained a shocking reminder of the abuse of women and children and that, compounded with the human trafficking, left the court with no choice but to stick with the recommended sentences for such heinous crimes.

“It’s time for the courts to send a clear, crisp and unambiguous message,” Judge Moosa said before sentencing the pair to life terms.

While the sentencing has been hailed as a victory by the Hawks’ specialised human trafficking unit, the Saturday Star understands that the men were two players in a much larger syndicate which was still operating in Gauteng.

A source linked to the matter said the unit would continue to hunt for the other members of the syndicate.