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| 'Juju' sex trafficker Lizzy Idahosa jailed for eight years | 'Juju' sex trafficker Lizzy Idahosa jailed for eight years |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A woman who was found guilty of trafficking two women from Nigeria to the UK to work in the sex trade has been jailed for eight years. | A woman who was found guilty of trafficking two women from Nigeria to the UK to work in the sex trade has been jailed for eight years. |
| Lizzy Idahosa, 24, arranged for the women to be put through a ritualistic "juju" ceremony in Nigeria to make them afraid of disobeying her. | Lizzy Idahosa, 24, arranged for the women to be put through a ritualistic "juju" ceremony in Nigeria to make them afraid of disobeying her. |
| The judge at Cardiff Crown Court said she she kept them in "a kind of hell". | |
| Her partner Jackson Omoruyi, found guilty of money laundering offences, was jailed for two years. | |
| Idahosa - who is heavily pregnant with Omoruyi's baby, and already has a young child with him - was found guilty of trafficking women to and around the UK after a trial last month. | |
| A jury also found her guilty of inciting prostitution and money laundering. | |
| Infertility fears | |
| During the trial, the jury heard the trafficked women worked in brothels to repay Idahosa £50,000 for travel from Nigeria and false documents. | |
| The victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the juju ritual - sometimes known as voodoo or magic - left them fearing illness, madness, infertility and death. | |
| They had sex with up to seven or eight men a day and were moved around a number of brothels in Croydon, Stevenage, Brighton, Swansea and Cardiff. | |
| Home Office officials and police eventually found one of the women working at a brothel in Cardiff in June 2013, and they quickly discovered she was a victim of trafficking. | |
| The other woman was later persuaded to talk about her experiences. | |
| 'Significant sums' | |
| As he sentenced Idahosa, Judge Tom Crowther QC told her: "You were the prime mover in this scheme. | |
| "You targeted vulnerable young women and kept them in a kind of hell. | |
| "You forced them to pay an arbitrary debt with their bodies day in day out. And you made significant sums from them." | |
| In total, Idahosa was given sentences of eight years, five years, seven years and two and a half years for her crimes - all to run concurrently. | |
| Omoruyi was sentenced to two years and 18 months, also to run concurrently. | |
| Judge Crowther said both defendants will serve half their jail sentences. | |
| 'Victims' resolve' | |
| Speaking after the court case, Nicola Rees, senior crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service Wales complex casework unit, said the sentencing "brings to a close a disturbing case involving the exploitation of two vulnerable victims". | |
| "We know that traffickers specifically target those in positions of vulnerability," she said. | |
| "I applaud the resolve of the two victims in this case, who were able to take active steps to break free from the abusive situation they were in." |