A female human trafficker based in Benin, Edo State, Mrs Felicia Osaigbovo, also known as Mama Masha, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on Tuesday by an Edo State High Court sitting in Benin.
Additionally, the convict was fined N24 million for the same offence after a Belgian police officer, Mr Jimmy Wellem Hendrik, testified, providing graphic details of how the convict exported young girls to her three children in Belgium for prostitution.
Mama Masha, a resident of Okuarobo Street, Off St. Saviour Street, Upper Sakponba Road, Benin City, the capital of Edo State, was arraigned on July 1, 2021, on a 24-count charge of assisting the activities of persons engaged in trafficking in persons, contrary to Section 13(4)c of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.
The convict was also accused of organising foreign travels that promote prostitution, contrary to Section 18 of the same Act, for 12 victims who are currently in Belgium.
She, however, pleaded not guilty to all the counts. The prosecution, in proof of the counts, called a total of three witnesses, including a Belgian police officer, Mr Jimmy Wellem Hendrik, who flew in from Brussels on May 3, 2023, to testify.
Hendrik told the court that three of the convict’s children, including Aigbe Egberanmen, who was sentenced to six years, would have to pay €108,000, while Aigbe Daniel, who was fined €108,000, was jailed for five years.
Another brother, Osaigbovo Nathaniel, received five years of imprisonment and a fine of €48,000. They were all sentenced in Belgium.
The Belgian policeman said that the convict could have been tried in absentia in Belgium based on the overwhelming evidence sourced from the several victims who escaped from the prostitution ring.
They officially told stories of how Mrs Osaigbovo, who also goes by the alias “Mama of Juliet,” recruited them in Benin City and took them to Europe for sexual exploitation and prostitution.
The Belgian, under cross-examination by the counsel to the defendant, painted a graphic picture of how Nigerian girls who were recruited to Belgium and other European countries dressed almost naked, standing by their windows and in private clubs, soliciting customers.
The age of the victims, numbering 24, ranges from 14 to 23, and they were trafficked in March 2015 by Mama Masha from Benin to her children, Juliet Egberanmwen Aigbe and Osaigbovo Nathaniel, based in Antwerp, Belgium, for prostitution.
The Belgian detective defended his Nigerian trip, insisting that human trafficking does not end in Belgium and Europe and thus must be tackled at its roots, whether in Nigeria or elsewhere.
He added that the young victims who were rescued had been resettled and were now engaged in legitimate businesses in Belgium.
The prosecution also tendered 13 exhibits during the trial.
Delivering judgement, Justice Geraldine Imadegbelo found the convict guilty of all 24 counts and sentenced her to 12 years imprisonment and a fine of N24 million.
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