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The Atlantis Magistrates’ Court is hearing a strange case wherein an ex-model is claiming that a wealthy Melkbosstrand couple held her against her will and abused her as a sex slave.

The unnamed couple has been charged with abduction, human trafficking and rape following their arrest at a luxury estate in Melkbosstrand, north of Cape Town in October.

Sounds like another terrible story of abuse and GBV, right? Well, the details that are emerging in this case seem to suggest that it’s not that simple.

According to documentation shown to the court, the wealthy couple made her a lucrative offer when they first met: R60,000 a month to be their assistant, doing mainly administrative work for their businesses – but they also put something extra on the table that would bring in additional income.

The young woman, a former model, was presented with a contract that detailed how she’d travel the world with them and be on call to satisfy the husband’s sexual needs. The document, drawn up and sent by the wife, states, “Learn to be intimate with a man.”

“No group sex. No lesbian sex. Your duty is to allow my husband to teach you how to be with a real man.”

“Your passion is to have sex with my husband. You cannot have sex with anyone else. You must take care of yourself and make sure my husband does the same. You must go to the gym five times a week. Make sure my husband follows his diet.”

Three days after receiving the offer, the 27-year-old model accepted the terms and conditions and jetted off with the couple – a woman aged 38 who owns two businesses and a 46-year-old man who works in construction – between their homes in Cape Town and Dubai.

The young woman documented her ‘champagne human trafficking’ on Instagram, posting pictures of herself sipping bubbly on a plane, all dressed up for an Andrea Bocelli concert, having her hair done at a salon that charges up to R10 000 a session, as well as posting about Dubai’s glitzy malls and flashy cars, having brunch at high-end restaurants.

Image: YOU

But at some point, things turned sour and in October the couple were arrested by police at their estate and charged with the above-mentioned crimes. In court, the pair were confronted with an indictment 21 pages long, with 15 charges including abduction and sexual slavery as well as other charges of sexual misconduct.

YOU report that sources close to the couple claim that there were never any signs that she was held against her will, or that she was forced into sexual slavery. According to the source, she told everyone about her nice life and could have “escaped” at any time.

Even the complainant’s sister, who also works for the couple, sent a statement from Dubai claiming her sister isn’t telling the truth. She says if any of the allegations were true, she would have known about it and been prepared to testify against them.

She claims her sister lost her job and made the allegations “out of anger and because she has a grudge against them”.

Family members of the accused couple have also allegedly come out in their defence, saying “This is totally out of character – he’s a gentleman, he’s genuinely good to others.”

While everyone acknowledges the couple isn’t entirely innocent – “that sex contract is strange” – friends of the couple have also spoken up for them, submitting statements to the court vouching for their character.

“I’ve known them for seven years,” one friend writes. “The couple introduced the complainant to me one day. They told us she worked for the wife. The complainant then regularly came to braais at our house. If we went out to eat, she would come along.”

According to this friend, the complainant regularly had her phone with her, moved around freely and often went on holiday with the couple.

“She never told me she needed help. She never hinted that she was being held against her will or sexually abused.”

The couple, who are being represented by lawyer Niel Slabber, are still behind bars while their bail application is underway. They claim the charges against them are fabricated.

YOU have social media screenshots supplied to them that detail the model’s glamorous lifestyle while working for the couple, but after the couple’s arrest, the complainant deleted her social media profiles, erasing the life she once led.

Only the upcoming hearings will reveal whether there was something darker underneath the glamorous lifestyle the ex-model portrayed, or whether it was a case of a contractual lover scorned.

[source:You/News24]