Woman fined €500 for keeping brothel
Clementina Omalade Festus, aged 28, was arrested at 21 Ard na Corann, Broomfield, Midleton, Co Cork, on July 5 last and taken to Mallow Garda Station, where she admitted the offence of brothel keeping.
The Nigerian woman’s “whereabouts” was being advertised on a commercial website locally, Midleton District Court heard yesterday.
The arrest followed a surveillance operation after gardaí received information in relation to suspicious activity at the house.
Detective Garda Gerard O’Shaughnessy told the court he stopped two men after leaving the address on July 2 and in statements they said they obtained sex from two ladies in exchange for money. Another man was stopped the next morning.
Following further enquiries a phone number was obtained on the internet. Det Gda O’Shaughnessy rang the number and arranged an appointment with two women. Two women were arrested at the house some time later.
Festus had told gardaí she would arrange that two persons would be available in the house. She was charged with a breach of Section 11 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993.
Festus, who had no passport or papers, came before Midleton District Court last week and was remanded in custody to allow gardaí investigate and confirm her identity through Interpol.
Eddie Golden told Judge Olann Kelleher yesterday there was still a difficulty in ascertaining her identity and gardaí were awaiting further information from Interpol. This included responses from Nigeria.
Det Garda O’Shaughnessy told the judge that Festus was not co-operating and said gardaí were satisfied at this stage that she was not a victim.
Solicitor for the defendant, Ken Murray, said his client had indicated she was who she said she was and had been in jail for a week.
He said the focus of “stopping this activity” should be in dealing with the people who seek “this type of service”. He said Festus’s “whereabouts” had been advertised locally on a commercial website.
Mr Murray said his client came to western Europe on certain assurances.
He said Festus came from a sheltered background in Nigeria, could not go back and was living from hand to mouth. “She has no papers and no ties to the state,” he said.
Judge Olann Kelleher said Festus had been in custody for a week and he was not going to keep her on remand for any longer. He fined Festus €500 and ordered her release.
