Northfleet man Osezua Osolasi trafficked Nigerian girl as a prostitute, court told (From News Shopper)

Northfleet man Osezua Osolasi trafficked Nigerian girl as a prostitute, court told

3:05pm Tuesday 18th September 2012 in News By Jim Palmer

A TEENAGER has told how she was trafficked from Nigeria under the fear of an African curse to be forced into prostitution in Europe.

The 17-year-old's video interviews were shown to a jury at Canterbury Crown Court today.

Former security guard Osezua Elvis Osolasi, aged 42, of Beaumont Drive in Northfleet, denies six charges of trafficking for sexual exploitation, four of rape and one each of sexual assault, false imprisonment, sexual activity with a child and assault, in relation to three teenage victims.

The court heard how the first girl was born in a small village which had no running water or electricity and both her parents died before she was 12.

She lived with a friend of her mother's who beat her and failed to feed her before she was sold as a slave to a family in Lagos where she was kept in a shed, beaten and raped by the husband, she told officers.

The family kicked her out when she fell pregnant by the husband and went to live rough under a bridge where a prostitute looked after her, she said.

The girl said she lost the baby when she was gang-raped by five boys and turned to prostitution herself.

In December 2010 she said she met a man she knew as Victor, who the prosecution claim is Osolasi.

Victor, she said, promised her an education in London provided she pay him back, and paid her for sex.

Prior to leaving Nigeria, on a marriage visa with a fake age, she was taken to a large house, the court heard.

She said: "There were many men. They had red cloths tied around their chests.

"I was afraid because it looked like it was a Juju place."

She said she was given a red mixture which looked like blood and was called "native port".

She was told to bathe in it and to tie herself in a cloth. Hair from her head and armpit was taken, as were finger and toenails and blood from her hand.

She said she was made to swear an oath.

"He said if I told anyone I would die and if I tried to run away I would die," she said.

She said she was raped at a hotel the night before the flight out of Nigeria.

During a brief stopover in Germany the girl said Victor told her he had a German wife, which Osolasi does.

She then flew to Britain and the girl was taken to a house, she said, where she was locked in a room and only allowed out for food.

One night she said she overheard the man on the telephone agreeing a price of 65,000 euros for a girl.

She said: "That's when I relised they were talking about me."

The girl said she pretended not to hear and was told the next day that she was going to Italy.

The next night she was raped again, she claims, and then shown a false passport. She said she was taken to a hairdresser to get a haircut to match the passport photo.

At Stansted Airport, she said he gave her make-up and sent her to the toilet.

She said: "He told me to go in there and make myself up exactly like the girl in the passport picture.

"I was praying the girl (at check-in) would notice but she did not.

"I wanted to report to the police but I was afraid they would be the same as the police in Nigeria."

On the plane to Italy, she said she washed the make-up off which made the man angry, but still the authorities did not notice when she arrived.

She said: "I refused to go through, I asked her (at passport control) to help me.

"I told her they wanted to cut my neck."

The girl was taken in by the authorities and flown back to England but was still initially reluctant to tell them what had happened.

She said: "Because of the oath, I was still afraid."

The trial continues.