Teenage girl rescued from forced prostitution
Police in Mississauga have rescued a 15-year-old girl from forced prostitution. She was found in a hotel room hungry and bearing signs of torture.
Peel police said yesterday a 19-year-old Brampton man coerced the girl, a 15-year-old runaway from Georgina, with death threats, ordering her to remain in the hotel while he arranged for “clients” to come and go from the room.
Police also discovered a 16-year-old prostitute at the same hotel, who they said was “kind of a willing participant” and faces prostitution charges after eight months of coercion by the man they described as “a serial pimp.”
“One girl was threatened – if she went to the cops, she’d be killed,” said Det. David Van Allen, noting that the younger teen had only met the accused pimp five days prior to her discovery by police. “I think the one girl would have stayed in any event, but the 15-year-old certainly didn’t feel that she could just walk out.”
The 15-year-old ran away from a group home in Keswick, Ontario, last month.
Joshua Owusu-Ansah, 19, of Brampton faces nine charges related to prostitution and human trafficking, including two charges of living off the avails of someone who is under the age of 18, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.
The Criminal Code statute against human trafficking doesn’t specify any minimum sentence. If Conservative MP Joy Smith had her druthers, Mr Owusu-Ansah would be facing a minimum term of five years. Ms Smith’s private member’s Bill C-268 is due to come to a vote in the House of Commons next week. If successful, it will then be considered by the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.