A TEENAGER who claimed she was forced into the vice trade by a human trafficking ring allegedly travelled to Bahrain to work as a prostitute, a court heard.
Two Thai women, age 32 and 39, are standing trial at the High Criminal Court, accused of holding the 19-year-old fellow national captive and forcing her into prostitution.
The defendants are charged with running a human trafficking ring, forcing their victim into the vice trade and locking her up.
They are said to have lured the teenager into the country after promising her a job as a masseuse.
However, they then allegedly forced her into having sex with 10 men daily and kept her locked up in an apartment in Juffair.
The 32-year-old alleged female pimp is said to have sold the victim to her 39-year-old co-defendant for BD700 who then locked her up in another apartment in the same area.
Policemen rescued the victim after she managed to alert an embassy official by using a mobile phone belonging to one of the men she was forced to have sex with.
Presenting their final arguments in the case, defence lawyers representing the defendants told judges that the victim could have fled her alleged captors any time, and that she worked as a prostitute.
“No one forced her (the victim) to have sex with men,” one of the female lawyers told the leading judge.
“She was in a building with security guards and she could have asked them for help if she was being held captive.
“She didn’t even open the window and request any aid from passers-by.
“When policemen arrived to rescue her, as stated by prosecutors, she (the victim) opened the door for them and she was standing with a group of women.
“This all means that she worked as a prostitute and the defendants did not hold her captive, because she could have fled at any time.”
The 19-year-old told prosecutors that she was forced to have sex with up to 10 men daily, when she was locked up in two apartments in Juffair in May (2022), according to court documents.
“I came to Bahrain to work as a masseuse,” the victim said, as she described her ordeal to prosecutors.
“However, I was locked up in an apartment and told to have sex with men for money.
“The Thai woman (defendant aged 32) held onto my passport and said that I could pay BD1,300 in return for my freedom.
“I did not have any money and was forced into the vice trade.
“I would have sex with 10 men daily, before she sold me to another Thai woman for BD700.
“I was then locked up in another apartment before I used a mobile phone to call an official from my embassy.”
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