Four men accused of trafficking at least three women to Cape Town and sexually exploiting them have appeared in court.
|||Cape Town - Four men accused of trafficking at least three women across South Africa to Cape Town and sexually exploiting them are being investigated by the police’s Organised Crime Unit.
Nwafor Emmanuel Jideoffer, Billy Emeka Amune, Ogechukwu Kingsley Mmaduekwe and Francis Chidiebane Nweke - all originally from Nigeria - appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
They have been charged with multiple counts of rape, human trafficking, assault with the intent to do grievous body harm, kidnapping and sexual exploitation.
It is alleged the men either recruited or trafficked the three women - who are from Joburg, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape - and used them as sex workers. The women are all under the age of 30.
The State alleges that the men lived off the money the women made as prostitutes.
More charges are expected to be added against the men. Jideoffer, who lived in Brooklyn, was arrested first in July last year.
Eight months later, Amune from Kempton Park was apprehended.
In April, Mmaduekwe, who lived Brooklyn, was arrested while allegedly trying to leave the country at OR Tambo International Airport.
Nweke, of Turffontein in Joburg, who was also arrested in April, was added to the case on Monday.
The men appeared together in the dock for the first time on Tuesday.
There are three separate charge sheets in the case but it is expected to be combined once the investigation is completed.
Their case has been postponed to July 23 for a formal bail application.
Cape Argus