Lucky Obukohwo ReportingÂ
In a determined effort to ensure that the suspect is brought to justice and human trafficking is brought to the barest minimal, a Belgian police detective, Mr. William Hendrik has boarded his flight all the way from Brussels to testify against a 62 year old grandmother, Mrs. Felicia Osaigbovo of Okuarobo Street, St. Saviour Road, Benin City.
The suspect was docked before the trial judge, Justice Geraldine Imadegbelo of Benin High Court on a 24 count charge of trafficking young girls to Europe for prostitution.
In charge No. B/NAPTIP/4/2021/A between the Federal Government and Felicia Osaigbovo, also known as Mama Masha, Hendrik said that three of the woman’s children including Aigbe Egberanmen who was sentenced to six years will have to cough out €108,000 while Aigbe Daniel who was fined €108,000 was jailed five years and another brother, Osaigbovo Nathaniel bagged five years imprisonment and a fine of €48,000. They were all sentenced in Belgium.
The Belgian policeman said that the suspect could have been tried in absentia in Belgium based on the overwhelming evidence sourced from the several victims who escaped from the prostitution ring and officially told stories of how Mrs. Osaigbovo, who also goes by the alias, Mama of Juliet recruited them in Benin City and took them to Europe for sexual exploitation and prostitution.
In the statement of offence, the suspected human trafficker was charged with assisting the activities of persons engaged in acts of trafficking in persons contrary to section 13(4)c of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.
The Belgian who was cross examined by the counsel to the defendant painted a graphic picture of how Nigerian girls who were recruited to Belgium and other European countries dressed almost naked, standing right by their windows and in private clubs, soliciting for customers.
The age of the victims who numbered 24 ranges from 14 to 23 and were trafficked in March 2015 by Mama Masha from Benin to her children, Juliet Egberanmwen Aigbe and Osaigbovo Nathaniel based in Antwerp, Belgium for prostitution.
The Belgian detective defended his Nigerian trip, insisting that human trafficking does not end in Belgium and Europe and so must be tackled to the roots whether in Nigeria or elsewhere, adding that the young victims who were rescued have been resettled and are now engaged in legitimate businesses in Belgium.
Justice Imadegbelo adjourned the case to June 14 for the defence after conferring with counsel to National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Mrs. Victoria Okanigbuan and that of the defendant, Mr. O.I. Asemota.