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29 March 2024

'I am a prostitute since the age of 12'

Published

A Somali ex trafficking case unfolding in court highlights the pathetic state of a teenager, who claims she became a prostitute at the age of 12.

Gang members used fraud and force to lead a 12-year-old 6th grader in suburban Minneapolis into a life of prostitution that involved being repeatedly violated and trafficked to Minnesota and Tennessee, federal prosecutors said in opening statements Monday in Nashville.

Assistant US Attorney Van Vincent told jurors that it was a "sad case", but also a crime, reported AP.

Defense attorneys said the young woman was a runaway and a "party girl" who willingly had sex with multiple defendants and lied about  it so her conservative Somali family could save face.

Seven of the nine defendants are of Somali descent. Another was born in Ethiopia and another was born in the US and is of Laotian descent.

The young woman, who has only been identified as Jane Doe No. 2, said the gang members charged as little as $50 for people outside the gang to use her for sex. The petite witness told jurors that at one point some of them considered selling her as a sex slave to someone for $2,000.

She testified that she is now 17 years old, but her age is in dispute. A federal prosecutor announced Monday the government just discovered her birth certificate was a fake.

The government maintains she was still a minor when she was involved with the gang, although defense attorneys disagree. The woman's age is important because the government has to show she was under 18 to prove child sex trafficking charges.

The young woman said she had consensual sex first with at least one member of the gang, but then they told her that she was going to be used by members to make money. She said they told her not to tell anyone and warned her about what happens to snitches.

"I perceived it like a threat at the time," she told jurors. Defence attorneys told jurors that the case was one involving a cultural clash between traditional Somali values and young immigrants who had become Americanized. Attorney John Oliva told jurors evidence would show the case was all about sex and that the immigrants were engaging in behaviour that would have been considered unthinkable to their parents.

"And they were experimenting and they were rebelling and they were doing things that young people do," Oliva said.

Another defence attorney said the girl willingly climbed out of her window to be with the guys and she had run away from home multiple times.

Thirty people originally were in an indictment unsealed in 2010 that said the defendants, many of them from the Somali immigrant communities in Minneapolis and Nashville, were members or associates of three gangs. Four unidentified victims, some of whom were under age 14, were listed in a superseding indictment.Other defendants in the case will be tried at a later date.

Dad wants boy...poisons infant girl

A three-month old baby was allegedly battered by the man who ought to have protected her - her own father.

According to local cops, the father tried killing her thrice before, because he wanted a boy, reported DNA.

The baby is now battling for her life in a hospital in the South Indian city of Bangeluru and doctors say her chances to make it are slim.

The father beat the little one with a blunt object on her head and is critical. She also has bite marks on her body.

The baby's mother said, last week he returned home drunk and stuffed poison-laced food into the baby's mouth and hit her on the head, reported ToI.

Father tries to sell teenage daughters

A teenager from the North Indian state of Uttat Pradesh has filed a complaint with the local police station that her father tried selling her and her younger sister.

The deal was allegedly agreed with two men for Rs80,000 (Dh5,760), reported NDTV.

Villagers intervened and alerted the police. Local cops have taken over custody of the sisters aged 15 and 14 respectively. 

Cop on duty enjoys lunchtime tryst with lover

A police chief, in charge of more than 100 officers on Merseyside's Matrix anti-gun unit in london, has been given the sack for watching and indulging in porn activities while on duty.

According to a 'Daily Mail' report, 47-year-old Mark Brew - a married man - is accused of "downloading porn and and exchanging dirty text messages". He was also caught sneaking out for a "lunchtime sex-session with a married lover".

He has been with dismissed with gross misconduct.

Brother sells sister for Dh4,300

A 25-year-old Indian man along with five others have been arrested for allegedly selling his teenage sister for Rs60,000 (Dh4,316) in Maharshtra, India.

The man along with his wife wooed the 14-year-old to go along with them on a vacation trip to Gujarat. They were joined by five other friends and they solomenised the teenager's wedding to a 32-year-old man, reported 'Times of India'.

The girl sesing something fishy managed to return home and inform her parents, who learnt the brother had accepted Rs60,000.

[Image via Shutterstock]