Three face trial for forcing housemaid into vice trade

Three Asians who “sold” a housemaid and forced her into prostitution will stand trial before the High Criminal Court on July 29, 2019, it has been confirmed.  

The trio, which involved two men and a woman, assisted the victim in escaping from her employer’s house, after promising her a job with better pay. Capital Governorate Prosecution Chief Prosecutor Isa Al Ajman confirmed in a statement that the female defendant contacted the victim through a social media network and helped her escape, in co-operation with one of the male defendants, then moved her to an apartment in Gudaibiya area in the Capital Governorate, where she was locked up.

Mr Al Ajman explained that the two defendants took the victim’s mobile phone away from her and forced her to have sexual intercourse with different men, customers, in return for amounts they, the defendants, collected. “The perpetrators then handed over the woman to an Asian man in return for a certain amount. She was also forced by the third suspect to practise prostitution. “The victim later managed to contact the embassy of her country seeking help.

The embassy reported the matter to the police, which rescued the woman and apprehended the three suspects,” Mr Al Ajman said in a statement posted by the Public Prosecution on its official Instagram page. The Chief Prosecutor also clarified in the statement that the Public Prosecution immediately initiated its investigation into the case once it was reported. He said the victim’s statements were heard and she was shifted to the Expats Protection Centre (anti-human trafficking shelter) in Northern Sehla.

Mr Al Ajman confirmed that the suspects were interrogated and detained, adding that witnesses’ testimonies and the results of police investigations were reviewed. “The incident confirms that all the defendants were carrying out trafficking in persons after controlling the victim and her independence by forcing her into prostitution. “The suspects were referred to court for trial while they remain in detention,” he added.