A Springbok mom convicted of human trafficking turned to piemp her husband as she begged for a lighter sentence at the Western Cape High Court.
In a dramatic address before Judge Alma de Wet, mom Leandre Williams was in snot en trane as she blasted her estranged husband Edward Ayuk, saying that she too was a victim of the abuse which State witnesses testified to.
The couple alongside Edward’s cousin, Yannick, were accused of running a brothel in Brooklyn and went on trial November 2021 in what was dubbed as the biggest human trafficking case before a local court.
The trio were slapped with over 40 charges, including rape, kidnapping, assault and various other offences for running a suikerhuis in Milnerton.
During the mammoth trial several of the victims were transported from their hometowns to take the stand.
They told the court of the drug abuse, beatings and the ins and outs of working on the streets of the Mother City.
Williams also took the stand in her own defence, denying that she had trafficked women from Springbok.
After the State closed its case, defence lawyer Advocate Bash Sibda successfully argued for the acquittal of 27 charges against Yannick.
The trio were later found guilty by De Wet on various charges and Williams was taken into custody.
Taking the stand yesterday, Williams told the court that she was abused by Edward who would beat her for smoking entjies. She said the beatings were so bad she would beg for her life, but not even blood would deter him.
She claimed that when she eventually left him and returned to Springbok, she still lived in fear as he would show up at any time and even moered her new berk.
She told the court: “I don’t understand the system of the police. They gave me a protection order. If it wasn’t for the day, I fainted in a pool of my own blood [nothing would have been done].
“I reported it but they always said it was marriage fights. On that day my body was purple and blue and they could see the evidence.”
Williams said on one occasion she was beaten with an iron object resulting in injuries to her left foot.
The angry vrou also lashed out at her husband’s lawyer who accused her of making up liegstories in order to get a lighter sentence.
Williams said: “I never thought I would be found guilty for a crime that Ayuk did.
“God gave me this chance to speak here today. I am not lying, you can go check the records at Maitland Police Station.”
She also slammed the investigating officer claiming she was offered 204 status but when she was charged alongside Ayuk she refused to make the cop’s job easier.