11 stand trial for forcing 150 girls into prostitution

FOLLOWING an international investigation involving gardaí, 11 people accused of forcing up to 150 young Nigerian girls into prostitution in Europe have gone on trial in the Netherlands.

The traffickers, mainly Nigerian, are accused of bringing the girls into the Netherlands as asylum seekers with false identity papers and instructions for an application in 2007.

The girls would then disappear from the asylum system only to reappear in other European countries.

The prosecutors who are bringing the case in the Dutch city of Zwolle have managed to locate about a dozen of the girls in Italy, Spain and France and suspect others are located elsewhere around Europe.

The prosecution service said: “They used voodoo to influence the girls. They had to give blood, nails or a piece of clothing and make a promise before a voodoo priest — to repay the debt incurred for their trip to Europe.”

The Dutch authorities have even been forced to enlist the help of a Nigerian priest to help the girls they have found to get over the voodoo curse.

In 2008, a Nigerian girl suspected of being trafficked into Ireland and forced to work as a prostitute was brought to the attention of gardaí and other state agencies in Kilkenny.

Kilkenny District Court was told the 17-year-old had spoken with members of Ruhama, an organisation that works with prostitutes and trafficking victims, and that gardaí had received documentation from the Nigerian embassy, which had spoken with the minor. The Health Service Executive was asked to intervene, but the girl disappeared.

In another case, an RTÉ reporter found a Nigerian girl who had been trafficked via London and Belfast to be placed in brothels and apartments here. She was expected to give her share of the money to the man who brought her over and the rest to the agency owner.