A couple who aallegedlyforced two women into prostitution have been found guilty.
24 year old Lizzy Idahosa and her husband Jackson Omoruyi, 41 made more than £70,000 out of the women, who were also made see a witch doctor for a sinister ‘juju’ ceremony, in which they reportedly ate snakes.
One of the ladies met a woman, who claimed to be Idahosa’s sister, who promised to make arrangements for her to travel to London, and as part of the agreement had to take part in a voodoo ceremony, a court heard.
Jackson was convicted of trafficking the women, inciting them to become prostitutes and transferring criminal property, while Lizzy was found guilty of money laundering.
The duo were arrested after a 23-year-old Nigerian woman was caught at the Ambassador Suite brothel in Cardiff, in June 2013.
Prosecuting counsel, Caroline Rees, said:
The couple were involved in the exploitation of two women brought into the UK from Nigeria to work as prostitutes,’ said Caroline Rees, prosecuting, during the trial.
‘They were bound to this by something called a juju ritual. It was a ceremonial ritual used to full effect to terrify both women into doing what was demanded of them.
‘It was used to ensure compliance, secrecy, and they believed if they broke the bond dire consequences would follow: illness, madness, infertility or death.
‘They genuinely believed the powers would work.’
One of the affected ladies told the court how she was taken to a premises full of women dressed in their underwear. There was no explanation as to what was going on but it soon became clear.
The woman started to work as a prostitute and was forced to have sexual intercourse with seven or eight men every day, working in brothels across the UK, including in Cardiff and Swansea.
The second victim told the court she had paid the defendants £31,400 over two years after working in brothels in Cardiff, Swansea, Barking and East Croydon, and said she had worked in South Wales for a year and eight months.
The woman, who like her fellow victim cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had stopped working and changed her sim card so Idahosa could not contact her.
However, within a month she received a phone call from her mother in Nigeria.
‘I had a call from my mum who told me Lizzy’s people had been to her house and threatened her,’ the victim told the jury.
‘Lizzy said if I did not pay her she would kill my mum and make me go mad.’
Idahosa and Omoruyi, who were arrested at their home in London, denied any wrong doing.
But police checked their bank accounts and found a series of transfers with Omoruyi acting as a ‘financial middle man’.
Idahosa had denied forcing the women to take part in a black magic ceremony, but claimed that she herself had been trafficked into the UK and forced to work as a prostitute.
She told the jury she did not know the two women had been trafficked.
‘It was only when I told them I was trafficked into the country that I found out they were trafficked,’ she said.
Idahosa, who is heavily pregnant, said she made an oath with her trafficker before leaving Nigeria and was forced to eat the roast heart of a cockerel.
She said: ‘I wouldn’t do the things they say I did because I’ve been through it.’
