British Court Convicts Woman Of Trafficking 5 Nigerian Women For Prostitution

Josephine Iyamu. Source: The Independent

A British court convicted Josephine Iyamu, a Nigerian nurse, of trafficking five women to Germany for prostitution.

Iyamu, a Liberia-born British citizen, was convicted of five counts of arranging or facilitating travel for sexual exploitation and perverting the course of justice.

During her trial, she was said to have forced the women, who were all Nigerians, after she coerced them to swear secrecy during a “Juju’ ritual and said they must pay her.

According to the Jury, eating chicken hearts, drinking blood containing worms, and rubbing powder into cuts.

In his argument, Simon Davis, lead prosecutor said Iyamu exerted “psychological control” over the women during the “juju” rituals, stressing that the victims were forced to incur huge debts through fear.

One of the victims was allegedly forced to pay as much as £32,700 (approximately N13 million) to cross from Nigeria into Germany through the Mediterranean.

The victims also lamented that they were threatened that themselves and loved ones would be harmed should they break the oath, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Efe Ali-Imaghodor, her 60-year old husband, was found innocent of “doing acts intending to pervert the course of justice”.

Prior to the trial, Iyamu, who became a British citizen in 2009, worked as an NHS agency nurse.

Iyamu will be sentenced on July 4.