A Nigerian
nurse has been jailed for 14 years in the U.K, after she used voodoo threats to
traffic five Nigerian women to Germany to work as prostitutes.
In the
landmark case, Josephine Iyamu, 51, become the first person to be jailed under
new modern slavery laws despite her victims having never set foot in the UK.
Judge Richard Bond labelled her “a predator”. He said: “You saw your victims
not as living breathing human beings but as a commodity to earn you money.
You preyed
on these five young women and all have been left physically and psychologically
scarred by the voodoo rituals they endured. The effect of those ceremonies was
to effectively put them under lock and key.” Earlier during the 10-week trial,
the jury heard how Iyamu, who was known to her victims as Madame Sandra, had
met her victims in Benin, Edo State.
Some of her
victims
She forced
the women to swear oaths before a voodoo priest during a week-long series of
humiliating so-called juju ceremonies during which they promised to pay her up
to €37,000 for arranging their travel to Europe.
As well as
being found guilty of five offenses under the Modern Slavery Act, Iyamu was
convicted of perverting the course of justice while on remand, by arranging for
relatives of the complainants in Nigeria to be arrested.
Defense
counsel John Benson QC told the court Iyamu had lost everything as a result of
her conviction, including her hope of pursuing a political career in Nigeria.
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