A group of seven Eastern Cape ‘in-laws’ accused of abducting and selling a girl (14) into forced marriage (ukuthwala) are on trial in the Butterworth Magistrate’s Court. A Daily Dispatch report says the seven members are her mother, her maternal grandfather, her alleged ‘husband’ and his mother, father and brother, as well as a lobola negotiator. They were arrested by the Hawks in January last year following a tip-off to police after the girl was allegedly abducted and married off in December 2017. The accused had been charged under the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act. The accused were released on a warning at their first court appearance and made another court appearance last week. The details of how the teenager was allegedly abducted and married off – and how she escaped after days in the homestead of her ‘in-laws’ – were revealed in court when the victim testified at one of the recent court appearances of the accused. The trial resumes on 16 August.