A woman forced to have sex with up to nine men a day while being held captive has revealed the horror of modern slavery in Britain as the Home Secretary vowed to combat the issue.
Speaking exclusively to Sky News on the eve of a major international anti-slavery conference, Theresa May said more must be done to bring the perpetrators of people-trafficking and modern-day slavery to justice
"There haven't been
sufficient prosecutions for trafficking in the past," she said.
"Partly I think that's
because of complex legislation, legislation that is in different acts of
parliament. "One of the key things we are doing is clarifying the
legislation, bringing it into this single bill."
The Government's modern
slavery bill is one of the issues being discussed at an international
conference in London, intended to increase cooperation in tackling human
trafficking.
And Sky News met one former
sex slave who was trapped in a house in west London for five years.
Known as
"Blessing", she paid a woman £4,000 to travel from Nigeria to the UK
on the promise of a job in nursing.
She and 10 other women made
the journey by ship, arriving at Tilbury Docks in Essex before being
transferred to the house in Ealing that would be her prison for the next five
years.
Ruled by her
"agent" - known to the girls as Mama G - those kept in the house were
guarded by security men, day and night.
"When our customers
came, I would hear Mama G start describing us: the sizes of our breasts, the
size of our private parts, how tall we are," Blessing said.
"She would then call
your room number and say you have customer ... "
When she tried to question
why she was there, Mama G would beat her and burn her legs and chest with an
iron - while security guards would warn her of the consequences if she tried to
leave.
"They will tell you if
you dare do anything, they will shoot you," she said.
"I didn't want to
die."
She and six others
eventually escaped when a door was left open and the group ran to Ealing
Broadway Tube Station and jumped the barriers before boarding a train.
"We just made up our
minds: 'If we are going to die, let us die'," she said.
"I came into this
country to come and look for a better life. I'm a well brought up woman from a
good home. I'm married. I've got my children. I never thought 'I'm going to do
prostitution'. It's shameful for me."
Blessing is now being cared
for in a safe house run by charity The Medialle Trust.
But critics of the
Government's modern slavery bill say not enough is being done to support
survivors of trafficking.
Government figures say
2,744 people were trafficked to the UK last year, of which 41%, or 1,128, are
known to have been trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
The Metropolitan Police
told Sky News that they rely on members of the public to help identify victims
of trafficking, and that in some cases men who paid for sex with prostitutes
were so alarmed at the apparent slavery of some that they themselves alerted
the police.
Phil Brewer, who leads the
Met's Trafficking and Kidnap Unit, said: "One of the biggest problems that
we have is that [trafficking] is hidden. It's a hidden crime just because of
the way these offences are committed.
"We really don’t know
the size of the issue."
Skynews
Incredible!
ReplyDeleteNa wa, sounds like something you will read in Nollywood.
ReplyDelete