Couple sentenced to life in prison for human trafficking

A South African court has sentenced a couple to life in prison for human trafficking and operating a brothel.

Goalkeeper news reports that Nigerian national Jude Ikenna Ijegulu, 34, and his wife, Elizabeth Botes, 29, of Centurion in Pretoria, have been charged at a High Court in Pretoria, South Africa.

According to the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation which revealed on Saturday, Ijegulu was also sentenced to two life sentences for two counts of rape and a further two years for illegally staying in South Africa.

The court further ordered that Ijegulu’s name be added to the National Register of Sex Offenders.

Gauteng National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana acknowledged the sentence, saying justice had been done.

Mahanjana said: “From November 2016 to September 2017, the two men ran a brothel in Centurion where they kept two women. The man raped the two women, supplied them with drugs and physically and sexually assaulted them.

“The couple would also ask the two victims to provide sexual services to their clients. The judge concluded that the two men had violated the human trafficking law. The man enslaved the two victims and gave them drugs.