A WOMAN OF unproven identity has been sent to jail after gardaí disputed her claim that she was a victim of sex trafficking.
Gardaí said the woman was known to be a sex worker in Ireland and disputed her claim to have been held captive at a house in Castlebar, Co Mayo, and forced to have paid sex with male callers.
She was jailed for four months yesterday but when time already spent in custody is taken into account, she will be eligible for release on February 12th.
Edith Orumwenes, also variously known as Edith Jonho and Joy Jolly, pleaded guilty at Ballinrobe District Court (sitting in Castlebar) to failing to provide travel documents when stopped by a detective garda in Castlebar on November 12th.
The woman, who initially gave her name as Edith Jonho, claimed she had left home to avoid a forced marriage and had been coerced into coming to Ireland under the false pretence that she would be given a job here.
She said she had been held in captivity at a location in Castlebar and forced to have sex with men but managed to escape.
Gardaí maintain, however, there is no evidence that the woman had been held by sex traffickers in Castlebar and claim she is known to gardaí in Clonmel as Joy Jolly, a worker in the local sex industry.
Insp Michael Murray yesterday said the defendant had only co-operated in providing fingerprints and identifying the house in Castlebar where she had allegedly been held because Judge Devins had ordered her to co-operate.
She had said she was “not in the mood” before that.
Gardaí still had not definitely identified the woman, the inspector added.
Before sentencing the woman to four months in prison, Judge Mary Devins noted that she had done very little to help herself.
Judge Devins said the woman had relied on Ruhama, the voluntary group involved with women involved in sex trafficking, an organisation which “was doing excellent work but could be exploited”.
Following the court hearing, Gerardine Rowley of Ruhama said she was very disappointed by the decision.
“We will be writing to the Minister for Justice expressing concern about how the current law on human trafficking is being applied,” she said. “We believe and are very concerned that Ireland has placed a very high threshold on granting protection and assistance to people who have fled human trafficking.
“We feel in Ireland there is a deficit in understanding the complexities of human trafficking. It’s really not appropriate that the State is allowing the criminal justice system to screen victims of trafficking.”
Ms Rowley said her group would be continuing to support and assist Orumwenes. “We are quite concerned for her wellbeing,” she said.
“It’s very distressing to hear that when people do come forward and disclose that they are involved in trafficking that they meet a culture of disbelief and also lack of knowledge and understanding of the issues involved.”
Ms Rowley declined to comment when asked about the judge’s remark that her organisation was doing good work but could “be exploited”.