24 year old Lizzy Idahosa (pictured left) and her husband Jackson
Omoruyi, 41 (pictured right), have been found guilty of trafficking in
people after they forced two Nigerian women into prostitution by making
them eat snakes in a black magic ceremony, UK Daily Mail reports.
Lizzy
and Jackson, according to reports, made more than £70,000 out of the
women, who were made see a witchdoctor for a sinister 'juju' ceremony.
Jackson
was convicted of trafficking the women, inciting them to become
prostitutes and transferring criminal property, while Lizzy was found
guilty of money laundering. Both are now facing jail.
From UK Daily Mail
During
the couple's trial at Cardiff Crown Court, the jury was told that the
two victims, aged 23 and 29, had their pubic hair shaved and forced to
eat live snakes and snails as part of the ritual, and then flown to
Britain in the belief that they were going to find a better life.
However,
when they arrived in the UK they were put to work as prostitutes,
working in brothels at massage parlours across England and Wales.
They
were told they had to give all the money they earned to Idahosa, and
believed the black magic curses would make them go insane or die if they
refused.
'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.'
The
offences came to light after police arrested a 23-year-old Nigerian
woman at the Ambassador Suite brothel in Cardiff, in June 2013.
She
told officers she had been living rough in Nigeria after her mother died
and had wanted to travel to the UK to find her father.
She had
then met a woman, claiming 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 the ceremony.
'She did not know what was expected of her,' said Ms Rees, who said the woman had been able
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.
When interviewed, she claimed she had given Idahosa £45,000.
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.'
The
jury was told that cash payments of several hundred pounds a time had
been deposited into Omoruyi’s account from locations all over the
country, including Glasgow, Sheffield and Southampton.
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