Nigerian Sex Trafficker, Jailed For 20-years For Smuggling Nigerian Teenage Girls Into Britain

A sex trafficker who used African witchcraft rituals to silence young girls smuggled into Britain to be sold as prostitutes has been jailed for 20 years.

Osezua Osolase, 42, preyed on poverty-stricken Nigerian orphans and tricked them into travelling to the UK with a promise of a better life. He treated the victims as commodities to be used in a form of modern-day slavery by attempting to send them to mainland Europe to be sexually assaulted by gangs, his trial heard.

West African juju rituals were used to instil terror in three victims, one of whom was aged 14. They felt helpless because they feared retribution and had no one to turn to, prosecutors said.

At Canterbury crown court on Friday Osolase was found guilty of five counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation, and one each of rape and sexual activity with a child.

Sentencing him on Monday, the judge, Adele Williams, said Osolase was "devoid of conscience, devoid of compassion to your victims".

She said he had put his victims in fear by using juju rituals to force their obedience and secure their silence. She said he was responsible for a "cruel deception" by promising the girls a better standard of life.

"You were dealing in exploitation and manipulation and degradation. You have been convicted on clear and compelling evidence," the judge said. "I have seen and heard you give evidence and you are undoubtedly a very, very dishonest man. You are arrogant and manipulative, you are devoid of conscience, devoid of any compassion to your victims."

She said Osolase treated the girls as objects to be sold as sex slaves. The fact that he raped one girl knowing he had HIV was a "seriously aggravating" feature, she said.

It was recommended that Osolase be deported after serving his sentence. Osolase, of Gravesend, Kent, showed no emotion as the sentence was passed.

Detectives said one of the victims, a 16-year-old girl, described how blood samples were extracted from her in a juju ceremony in Nigeria. Her hair was cut and she was made to swear an oath of silence. She was smuggled into Britain before an unsuccessful attempt was made to send her to Italy.

Witchcraft rituals are sometimes used by Nigerian traffickers to force victims into obedience or compel them to pay back vast sums of money. A senior detective said Osolase corrupted the well-established belief of juju in an attempt to "gain control and bend the wills" of his young victims.

During the six-week trial, Osolase, nicknamed "Uncle", refused to admit trafficking the teenagers, forcing them to relive the crimes in front of a jury.

Some of the girls had travelled to Britain with dreams of gaining modelling work or a better education, but prosecutors said they endured "heartless abuse" at every turn.

Police believe there were at least 25 suspected victims of the trafficking ring, which smuggled girls using fake passports and visas from Nigeria into the UK, and then on to countries including Italy and Spain.

Investigators said the case was difficult to bring to court because human trafficking victims often feared retribution against themselves and their families. Their experience of authorities in their home country often left them lacking confidence in the justice system. British officials said the girls were courageous in giving evidence.

Inquiries were conducted on a mass of data from pre-paid credit cards, email addresses, flight records and mobile phones to prove Osolase was involved in smuggling the girls to Britain. He was stopped at Stansted airport in April last year, resulting in evidence gained by UK Border Agency inquiries to be passed to the Kent and Essex serious crimedirectorate.

Investigations revealed that Osolase was the prime suspect in multiple human trafficking offences where girls had been flown from Nigeria to the UK before being sent to Europe.

Anthony Orchard QC, defending, said Osolase suffered from glaucoma, rendering him 90% blind in one eye. Osolase had disclosed that he had HIV voluntarily to police, Orchard said.

He added: "Mr Osolase acknowledges and regrets the consequences of his actions, in relation to taking the girls out of the UK, and he has to bear the consequences of those actions."