Two Nigerian women, Alicia Edosa, 44, and Edith Enoghaghase, 31, have been found guilty of running a prostitution ring in Mullinger, Ireland.

According to midlands103.com, a news website, the women were found guilty of human trafficking offences in what is believed to be the first conviction of its type in Ireland. Edosa and Enoghaghase were found guilty on two counts of trafficking women into Ireland between September 2016 and June 2018.

The women were convicted following a six-week jury trial at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court. At least four women, during the six-week trial, gave evidence in court that they were forced into prostitution in Ireland after undergoing a voodoo ceremony in Nigeria in what the prosecution claimed was a “tragic” case of exploitation.

During the trial, the victims provided evidence of long, “harrowing journeys from their homeland via north Africa and southern Europe before arriving in Ireland.” It was gathered that the counsel for the women had claimed that the victim made false human trafficking allegations against them in order to secure their rights to remain in Ireland.

The victims further told the court that contrary to what the women claimed, there was no time they had voluntarily decided to work as prostitutes. One of the victims, 26, a mother of one, said that she was trafficked into Ireland after Edosa promised her that she would be earning as much as €3,500 per month by working as a shop assistant.

The promises, however, turned out to be packet of lies as Edosa forced her into prostitution within days of arriving in Ireland. The woman noted that she felt betrayed by Edosa who had arranged her travel from Nigeria to Ireland via Libya and Italy. The victim further recounted how she had been raped in Tripoli and used a false Irish passport to get through immigration at Dublin Airport.

Edosa had also kept €44,000 of the victim’s earnings while threatening to kill her son and entire family back in Nigeria if she did not follow instructions. She narrated: “I was like a sex machine and money-making machine for her.

If I collect €1,000, Edosa only allows me to keep €10, which means I go without food for days.” The victim told counsel for the DPP, Fiona Murphy SC that she would never have left Nigeria if she had known she would end up working as a prostitute in Ireland.

The trial further heard the woman worked in various locations around the country including Limerick, Cork, Galway, Castlebar, Navan, Athlone, Letterkenny, Cavan and Dundalk. However, the jury, which consists of 10 men and two men, found Edosa not guilty on two other counts of human trafficking.

The Midlands103.com, stated: “Alicia Edosa of The Harbour, Market Point, Mullingar, Co Westmeath and Edith Enoghaghase of Meeting House Lane, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath were also each convicted of a single offence of organising prostitution as well as a series of money laundering offences.

Ms. Enoghaghase’s husband, Omonuwa Desmond Osaighbovo, 30 was found not guilty of a single charge of prostitution but guilty of four money laundering offences. All three were found not guilty of the commission of an offence for a criminal organisation contrary to the Criminal Justice Act 2006.” (Text from Sunday Telegraph)

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