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The victims were put through juju rituals and believed if they ran away the curse would cause their death and serious harm to their families
3.1.22
Two women at the centre of Ireland’s first sex trafficking prosecution are set for a legal battle over their prison sentences.
Both Alicia Edosa and Edith Enoghaghase have lodged appeals against their convictions and sentences after being jailed last September.
Meanwhile, the DPP has also started an appeal against the undue leniency of the five-year prison terms imposed on the women.
Judge Francis Comerford at Mullingar Circuit Court imposed a jail term of five years and eight months on Edosa backdated to April 14, 2019 when she was first in custody.
He sentenced Enoghaghase to five years and one month in prison for similar offences, backdated to her conviction on June 10, 2021.
A number of women gave evidence of how they were lured to Ireland with the promise of a job only to find themselves forced into trafficking.
They also had been put through juju rituals and firmly believed if they ran away the power of the curse would cause their death and serious harm to their families at home in Nigeria. …
Trafficking expert Siddharth Kara previously told the Sunday World sex slaves can be worth as much as €150,000 to criminal gangs in western Europe.
“They are brought to Europe with massive debts they have to repay in commercial sex.”
“You can imagine – young, away from home, don’t know the local language, probably vulnerable, oppressed and you’ve got this hold over you. The kind of exploitation that can take place is extraordinarily intense. All the profits accrue up the chain,” he said.