In total, Nigerian Ediozi Odi is to spend six separate life sentences plus 126 years in prison after he was found guilty of human trafficking in South Africa.
Odi received the ultimate maximum sentence allowed after the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, presided over by Judge Natvarlil Ranchod, stated that human trafficking is increasing worldwide, reports TheSouthAfrican.
Of the sentences, three of them were for charges of rape. He was convicted on 24 of the 29 charges against him.
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The case of three young victims around the ages of 13 and 14, lured from the streets by other young girls acting as recruits, and used as sex slaves in a brothel owned by Odi, was heard by the court behind closed doors for months, reports IOL News.
The report indicated that most of the girls were mostly vulnerable and come from poor families. They were lured under the pretext of providing them with better lives, only to be traded into sex slavery by Odi.
Although there is little else known about Odi, according to Guardian.ng, he ran a sex dungeon that was masqueraded as a general store and a barbershop.
He was accused along with Nomsa Hlalele and Luke Botha, who both faced 20+ charges related to human trafficking and other sex crimes for their direct involvement in using the three girls as sex slaves.
Describing how the girls got into such a place, TheSouthAfrican said none of the girls was aware of what they were getting into, as they were immediately forced to smoke a drug called “rocks.”
An expert told the court that the highly addictive drug was manufactured and sold by Odi, and once the girls were exposed to it, they were immediately hooked onto it.
He added that because of the addictive nature of the drug, the girls did anything and everything to get hold of it.
Giving a demonstration in court, one of the girls described how they were taught to smoke the drug by Hlalele, accused along with Odi.
IOL News reports that once high on the drugs, Odi himself raped these girls “to teach them the tools of the trade” as an initiation into the sex trade.
“The victims were locked up in the house for the duration of their stay, while Odi send his workers to prowl the streets for prospective clients. They were also locked up in a dungeon under the floor of the house whenever the police raided the house,” reports TheSouthAfrican.
As payment, the girls were given more drugs but hardly any food, as all proceeds went to the brothel master, Odi.
The girls have now been reunited with their families while a bid by Odi to appeal his convictions and sentences have been turned down. The two drug runners accused along with him have each received a suspended sentence for the possession of drugs.
Six life sentences & an additional 129 years imprisonment was meted out to a Nigerian Ediozi Odi for human trafficking & related charges after he kept young girls hostage to work as sex slaves. He kept girls as young as 13 as sex slaves, starved them & paid them with drugs pic.twitter.com/Mlh7Px49Qz
— Man’s Not Barry Roux (@AdvBarryRoux) September 19, 2019
