Sex trafficking victims awarded £600,000 in damages
Four women from Moldova were promised jobs in London but, when they arrived, they were forced to work as prostitutes for 20 hours a day. They have now won a landmark lawsuit against the couple who deceived and coerced them into prostitution.
Identified only as AT, NT, ML and AK, the young women, all from Moldova, told the High Court in London of their terrifying and abusive ordeals. Speaking from behind a black screen they described how they were fed just one meal a day, charged for the use of knives and forks and fined if they refused unprotected sex or clients’ perverted demands.
Mr Justice Treacy ordered Gavril and Tamara Dulghieru, who are already serving prison sentences for trafficking offences, to pay the four women a total of £611,000 damages.
In November 2005, Mr Dulghieru admiited conspiring to traffic in prostitution, trafficking into the UK for sexual exploitation and plotting to facilitate unlawful immigration and was sentenced to nine years imprisonment. Mrs Dulghieru was convicted of immigration, fraud, forgery and money-laundering offences and sentenced to five years.