How A 42-Year-Old Nigerian Allegedly Smuggled Children Into The UK Before Threatening Them With Witchcraft To Become Prostitutes
A Victim |
A
Nigerian recycling worker allegedly smuggled young children into Britain
before brainwashing them with African witchcraft to try and force them
into prostitution.
According to Daily
Mail: Osezua Elvis Osolase, 42, is accused of 13 offences of
trafficking, rape, false imprisonment and sexual activity with a child.
He allegedly cast spells over his three victims, all originally from
Nigeria, using juju magic rituals in order to stop them from running away, a court has heard.
He is also alleged
to have sexually assaulted the girls - who are now aged 15, 17 and 18 -
and it is believed he has many more victims.
Juju refers to traditional West African religions involving objects of superstition and witchcraft. In one case, the court heard, Osolase took the 17-year-old-girl to a place of 'witchcraft' in April last year and forced her to bathe using a red cloth and blood. The girl then had her armpit hair cut, toe and finger nails cut and blood was taken from her right hand before she was told the spell would kill her if she tried to run away.
Juju refers to traditional West African religions involving objects of superstition and witchcraft. In one case, the court heard, Osolase took the 17-year-old-girl to a place of 'witchcraft' in April last year and forced her to bathe using a red cloth and blood. The girl then had her armpit hair cut, toe and finger nails cut and blood was taken from her right hand before she was told the spell would kill her if she tried to run away.
During the opening
of the eight week trial today, Canterbury Crown Court heard the three
girls were shipped to the UK from Nigeria in preparation for being sold
as prostitutes in Italy.
Osezua Osolase is caught on camera trafficking a girl at an airport |
Sara Ellis,
prosecuting, said: 'This case involves allegations in respect of three
young Nigerian girls who were trafficked from Nigeria into the UK in
order to traffic them out of the UK and to Europe for the purposes of
prostitution. 'In this case the complainants were subjected to juju
rituals in an effort to ensure that they would do as they were told,
that they would not run away, that they would repay the defendant and
that they would never reveal the truth about what really happened to
them and the ordeals to which they were subjected for fear of death or
serious harm.
'You will hear
something about juju ceremonies during the trial and the very powerful
effect that they can have on people like the complainants in this case.'
The court heard Osolase, who lives with a German woman in Gravesend,
Kent, had found his alleged 17-year-old victim begging on the streets of
Nigeria.
The former security guard told
her would take her to Britain to help her get an education. Ms Ellis
said: 'He called himself ‘Victor’ and took her to a large house -
a place she described as a "place of witchcraft". 'There she was given
what she described as "native port", a mixture which looked like blood
and a red cloth. 'She was told to use this liquid to bathe and to tie
a cloth around herself after doing so. 'A man came and cut hair under
her armpits and finger and toenails and blood from her right hand. 'She
was told this was to ensure she did not run away and would repay Victor.
'She said it was an "oath" and if she ran away the charm would find
her. 'She was told that if she ran away or didn’t pay that she would
die. She believed it.' Ms Ellis told the court the 17-year-old was then
given a passport - which had been lost by its genuine owner some years
earlier - and flown to the UK then Italy.
However, when she
reached the airport she refused to go through customs and begged Italian
officials for help, the court heard. The prosecutor said the teenager
was returned to Stansted Airport, Essex, where she eventually admitted
to being Nigerian. The same month the 15-year-old was alleged to have
been brought to the UK and taken to Osolase’s home where she claimed she
was sexually abused. Ms Ellis said that she was also taken along with
the 17-year-old and sent to Italy again with a stolen passport. In July
the 18-year-old arrived in Britain and was locked inside a flat and told
she was going to Italy to meet “her madam” and to work as a prostitute,
the court heard.
The prosecution
claimed that an investigation of Osolase’s travelling in Europe revealed
that the three were not his only victims. The trial at Canterbury Crown
Court is expected to last eight weeks and among the prosecution
witnesses will be an expert in juju.
Daily Mail