Update: 51-year old Nigerian nurse who used voodoo magic to force women to work as prostitutes in Europe bags 14-years jail term
A Nigerian nurse has been jailed for 14 years in the U.K, after she
used voodoo threats to traffick five Nigerian women to Germany to work
as prostitutes.
In the landmark case, Josephine Iyamu, 51, become the first person to
be jailed under new modern slavery laws despite her victims having
never set foot in the UK. Judge Richard Bond labelled her “a predator”.
He said: “You saw your victims not as living breathing human beings but
as a commodity to earn you money.
You preyed on these five young women and all have been left
physically and psychologically scarred by the voodoo rituals they
endured. The effect of those ceremonies was to effectively put them
under lock and key.” Earlier during the 10-week trial, the jury heard
how Iyamu, who was known to her victims as Madame Sandra, had met her
victims in Benin, Edo State.
some of her victims |
She
forced the women to swear oaths before a voodoo priest during a
week-long series of humiliating so-called juju ceremonies during which
they promised to pay her up to €37,000 for arranging their travel to
Europe.
As well as being found guilty of five offences under the Modern
Slavery Act, Iyamu was convicted of perverting the course of justice
while on remand, by arranging for relatives of the complainants in
Nigeria to be arrested.
Defence counsel John Benson QC told the court Iyamu had lost
everything as a result of her conviction, including her hope of pursuing
a political career in Nigeria.
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