France: Four Nigerians tried for bad pimping

After more than a year of adjournment, four Nigerians accused of bringing several Nigerian young women to France and forcing them into prostitution will begin their appeal at the Val-de-Marne Assize Court on Tuesday for aggravated pimping in an organized gang and human trafficking.

The trial at the Créteil assizes was set to take place in January 2022, but was suspended shortly before the Attorney General’s requests because one of the accused had contracted Covid-19. Then in September 2022, the trial was adjourned again after a poor lawyer was unable to represent his client.

The four accused, three men and one woman between the ages of 27 and 40, are accused of belonging to a network that recruited girls from Edo State (southwest Nigeria).

Young women, mostly minors

In July 2020, the Paris Assize Court recognized the organized pimping and trafficking of young women, mostly minors, in a Nigerian network. He sentenced Omos Wiseborn for “central role” to 19 years in prison, couple Blessing Ubi and Dennis Brown to 15 and 13 years and Emmanuel Aiwansosa to 10 years, specifically for committing wild abortions.

Omos Wiseborn’s attorney declined to speak before the hearing. His accomplice, Miriam Wisebourne, fled and was targeted with an arrest warrant during the trial at the first opportunity. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

According to Me Catherine Delanoë Daoud, defending one of the civil parties, Miriam Wiseborn was arrested in Germany “a year ago” and imprisoned in France. She will not be arraigned again on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old, represented by Me Delanoë Daoud, is unsure whether she will stand trial, saying her lawyer wants to “forget about it all” and “turn the page”.

“Thinking Heads”

“Men, thought leaders, “organizers” and “uncles” of a network, these ex-prostitutes have become pimps,” underscored Mee Kathleen Tai.

Despite the “pain,” both of his clients hope the “first example sentences will be affirmed.”

In 2015, the first complaint was filed by Grace*. The young Nigerian woman told investigators she was forced into prostitution in the Bois de Vincennes upon her arrival in France, reportedly for 35,000 euros to repay the cost of her illegal immigration. She is 13 years old.

Before settling down, Grace added, the ritual of “juju” is “submission, a moral and religious commitment that affirms a woman’s duty of obedience to her captor” and her pimp. Credit, as per charging order.

Another civil party also condemned her brutal abortion when she was 14 years old. He said he had to pay 700 euros to Emmanuel Ivansoza, a “nursing student” from Italy.

Judgment on September 27.

*Name known to editorial staff

(AFP)