Court hands life sentence to man who trafficked, forced 16-year-old to be his ‘wife’ in Cape Town

“I don’t have bruises and wounds that anybody can see but I am living with something I cannot wash away.” 

These are the words of a traumatised young woman who was trafficked in 2012 as a teenager from the Eastern Cape and forced to be the “wife” of a man as old as her mother.

Ayanda Wellington Vellem has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Cape Town regional court for trafficking in persons for sexual purposes.

The woman, now 28 and who cannot be identified, told the court in her victim impact statement she was traumatised by the horrific ordeal after being repeatedly raped.

“I don’t trust male people. I don’t have love for men. I was deprived of my youth. I never enjoyed life like other kids. I have anger issues, and I am always scared. I was forced to get married to a man who’s a year older than my mom. This man is supposed to be my father. I was only 16 years old. The pain of sleeping with someone who is old enough to be your father is unbearable,” read the statement. 

Her ordeal began in May 2012 when a woman asked if she was interested in marrying a young man. The victim was in primary school at the time and lived with her grandmother. She was told the man was 25 years old and agreed, believing someone would inform her grandmother about the marriage.  

Vellem sent money to the woman to have the victim trafficked to Queenstown.

The drinking and rapes got worse in Du Noon to the extent she developed injuries in her private parts.

—  National Prosecuting Authority  spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the next day she was dressed in makoti clothes (indicating she was married) but was yet to meet her husband to be.  

“He arrived two weeks later, and it was only then she was informed he was her husband. After seeing him she told the sister of the woman who approached her that she wanted to go home, but the woman ignored her. She later saw Vellem’s identity document and found out he was born in 1967 and was 45 years old, the same age as her mother,” said Ntabazalila.  

“In the evening, she was asked to take food to Vellem but when she returned to the main house, the lights were switched off. Vellem called her into the bedroom, instructed her to take off her clothes and raped her.”

The next day she was taken to Cape Town and made to stay at a house in Khayelitsha while he stayed in Du Noon.  

Vellem would visit on weekends and rape her. She convinced Vellem to take her to Du Noon, where she had an uncle.  

“The drinking and rapes got worse in Du Noon to the extent she developed injuries in her private parts. She went to a clinic in Khayelitsha where she met Nonkosi Ngingi, a nurse, who asked her age and why she was wearing makoti clothes,” said Ntabazalila.  

“She relayed what had happened to her after being trafficked from the Eastern Cape. She learnt she contracted a sexually transmitted disease.”  

Ngingi contacted the uncle and he met the victim at a taxi rank and they alerted police.

“Vellem and the women who helped traffic the victim were charged with abduction, trafficking in persons for sexual purpose and failure to comply with the requirements of a valid customary marriage. Vellem was charged with rape. The woman who approached the girl died during the trial and the other two women were acquitted of all the charges,” said Ntabazalila.  

Vellem was also sentenced to nine months' imprisonment for failure to comply with the requirements of a valid customary marriage and six months' imprisonment for assault. The court ordered his name be entered into the national register of sex offenders and the national child protection register. He was declared unfit to possess a firearm.

“I was a young girl who was helpless and couldn’t fight for herself. I am so grateful to God that I never fell pregnant because things could have been worse. The child would have been a constant reminder of what happened to me,” read the victim impact statement.

“Sometimes I would ask myself why he chose me. I believe there were so many girls in my village who were almost the same age as him. Is it because I didn’t have parents? There are no answers.”