An Edo State High Court sitting in Benin City, on Tuesday, sentenced
a notorious human trafficker, Mrs. Felicia Osaigbovo, alias Mama Masha, to 12 years imprisonment and a fine of ₦24million.
Mama Masha, who lives at Okuarobo Street, Off St. Saviour Street, Upper Sakponba Road, Benin City, Edo State capital, was arraigned on July 1, 2021 on a 24-count charge of assisting the activities of persons engaged in trafficking in persons contrary to Section 13(4)c TIPPEA, 2015
The convict was also accused of organising foreign travels, which promote prostitution, contrary to Section 18 of TIPPEA, 2015 for 12 victims currently in Belgium.
She, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges, but the prosecution called a total of three witnesses, including a Belgian police officer, Mr. Jimmy Wellem Hendrik, who flew in from Brussels on May 31 to testify against the suspect.
Hendrik told the court 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.
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 City 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.
The prosecution also tendered 13 exhibits in the course of the trial.
Delivering judgement, Justice Geraldine Imadegbelo found the suspect guilty of all the 24 counts and sentenced her to 12 years imprisonment and a fine of N24 million.
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