Rusana Philander

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Western Cape started prosecuting the first human trafficking case in the Mitchells Plain Magistrates Court yesterday.

An 18-year-old woman from Swaziland testified in the court.

Eric Ntabazalila, NPA spokesperson, said this came after the accused man brought her to South Africa “under false pretence that he would provide her with employment in Swaziland”.

She was first to accompany him to Piet Retief before they returned to Swaziland.

Once they were in South Africa he started forcing himself on her for as long as they were together, until she was later found by the police.

She stayed with the man in a house in Rondevlei in Mitchells Plain.

The house in Mitchells Plain, where police found her, belongs to the church of which the man is a member.

The hearing took place in camera and the rest of the trial is expected to be opened to the public and the media.

The case was postponed to May 16.