“I have a statement that says you had glass crack pipes, which you sold with small balls of steel wool.”
|||Durban - A State witness and the receptionist at the Inn Town lodge, an alleged brothel owned by a Durban doctor, have disputed statements obtained by the defence that she sold her own liquor and “crack” pipes at the hotel.
During cross-examination, Anand Nepaul put it to Dudu Yvonne Shinga that he had a statement from a witness who said that Shinga sold her own liquor and crack pipes at the lodge.
“I have a statement that says you had glass crack pipes, which you purchased from a white female, with small balls of steel wool which you sold. The witness also said that you sold lighters,” Nepaul put it to Shinga.
Shinga said she saw the glass pipes once, at the reception area, where a boy named “TK” had left them.
On Thursday marked Shinga’s seventh day on the witness stand in the racketeering and trafficking trial involving Dr Genchen Rugnath, a director of the company which owns the Inn Town Holiday Lodge, his wife Ravina, and three others, Sandile Zweni, Nduduzo Dlamini and Bhabha Dubazani.
The accused have all pleaded not guilty in the Durban Regional Court to a total of 156 charges including assault, rape, sexual exploitation of a child and racketeering, relating to the alleged brothel in Rochester Street.
Shinga had testified that neither the doctor nor his wife had made any bookings for prostitutes, or been dealing in drugs.
Shinga testified that everything Dlamini and Dubazani did was on the instruction of Zweni. In her evidence-in-chief, Shinga had testified that Dlamini and Dubazani guarded the women, provided them with food and made sure they were not abusive towards each other.
On Thursday Shinga said the women would leave “from time to time” before returning. She said some would go away for long periods of time before returning, while others never came back.
When Nepaul asked Shinga if the women who wanted to go home were allowed to, she said yes.
Cross-examination continues.
rizwana.umar@inl.co.za
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