“gone to a police station for help but “they
had refused to help…”
‘Tell her I’m not dead, I’m
still alive’
March 29 2014 at 11:19am
ByShereeBega and ThabisoThakali
ByShereeBega and ThabisoThakali
Supplied
Anna
Kreller alleges that she was held captive in Springs for seven years. Picture:
Lowvelder
Johannesburg -
A young woman claims she is British and says she was abducted by a man she met
online and forced into a life of prostitution in Springs, east of Joburg.
Anna Kreller,
26, told her rescuer, a man only identified as Leon, of her ordeal: that she
had been held captive in South Africa since she was 19 and used as a sex slave
in the downtrodden area of Geduld.
The story of
Kreller’s assertions was first published on Friday in the Lowvelder newspaper
in Nelspruit.
But Gauteng police
have refused to confirm the allegations and said Kreller was being held as an
illegal immigrant.
Speaking from
the UK, her mother, Angela, told the Saturday Star she was shocked her daughter
was in jail. But she refused to explain her daughter’s circumstances.
“I can tell you
that she is not an illegal immigrant.
“I need to
speak to my daughter. She wants to come home.
“I love her
very much.”
The newspaper
reported that Leon was driving in Geduld on Wednesday when he saw a man acting
“aggressively” towards Kreller. After he drove past again, the man ran away.
She asked him
to please phone her mother, according to the newspaper.
“Tell her I’m
not dead, I’m still alive.”
She had met a
man from Cape Town on the internet who tricked her into believing he wanted to
marry her, she said.
“The man
travelled … to fetch her and immediately took her passport and assaulted her
severely, breaking her nose. She showed him the scars of old stab wounds.”
The man, she
claimed, had forced her into a life of prostitution, holding her captive in
Springs.
She told Leon they had tried to force her to
take drugs and she had become addicted to alcohol. She had once escaped, and
had gone to a police station for help but “they had refused to help her as she
had no passport or ID”.
But all Gauteng
police spokeswoman Captain DoniahMothutsane would reveal is that the police
were investigating Kreller’s bona fides. “The police were alerted about a young
woman who was lying on the street and suspected to be under the influence of
alcohol.
“The woman
alleges that she is from UK but there is no documentation to prove if she is
indeed from UK.
“ She was then
arrested for illegal immigration while police are investigating other
allegations.” - Saturday Star
