A South Africa Court has sentenced two Nigerian siblings, Obioma Benjamin Abba and Chinedu Justine Obasi, to a combined 30 years imprisonment for human trafficking.

WuzupNaija learnt that 38-year-old Obasi, the mastermind, and his brother Abba, 32, had kept two women captive in a flat in Arcadia, kept them hooked on drugs, forcefully pimped them out to clients and kept the women’s earnings for themselves.

The South African constitution called for life imprisonment for persons found guilty of human trafficking, however, Judge Ronel Tolmay found that there were mitigating factors in this case.

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The judge noted that brothers were first offenders and that they had spent more than two years in jail while awaiting trial.

He added that the two women, who worked as prostitutes for the brothers, were already in the sex trade and hooked on drugs before they started working for the siblings.

The judge then sentenced Abba to an effective 12 years imprisonment and his brother and the mastermind, Obasi, to an effective 18 years imprisonment.

The two prostitutes, who had since left the sex trade, earlier told the court of their harrowing life on the streets, while their pimps kept them hooked on drugs.

Both said they still got nightmares and flashbacks from their life on the streets.

It was extremely difficult for the two women to break away from the life of drugs and prostitution. But after the arrest of the brothers, the two said they dearly wanted to turn their lives around and come clean with their family.

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Both had been rehabilitated from drugs and they have obtained good jobs. But during the trial, they were under the state’s witness protection plan for their own safety.

They also could not face their pimps in court as they were too afraid. They testified about their dark lives on the streets via closed-circuit television from an adjacent room.

One of the former victims, who was in court on Tuesday, is heavily pregnant and has found new love. She is expected to give birth next month.

She told IOL she was happy it was all over now, although she would have wanted a harsher sentence for the abusers.