A British nurse was on Thursday convicted of trafficking five Nigerian women into Europe to work as prostitutes.
51-year-old Josephine Iyamu, also a Nigerian, was said to have subjected the women to bizarre voodoo/juju rituals, which included drinking blood containing worms, eating chicken hearts, and having powder rubbed into cuts.
The women were also forced to swear oaths and hand over money during the “juju” ceremonies.
Iyamu, who lives in London, was convicted of five counts of arranging or facilitating travel for sexual exploitation at Birmingham Crown Court.
Jurors also found her guilty of perverting the course of justice.
In exchange for facilitating the travel, Iyamu charged the victims between 30,000 euros ($35,000, £27,000) and 38,000 euros, and then made them work as prostitutes in order to repay the debt.
Prosecutors said the voodoo rituals gave Iyamu crushing psychological control over the women, who were too afraid to challenge her or to fail to pay her back tens of thousands of euros she charged them to be trafficked into Germany.
Simon Davis, prosecuting, said:
“Josephine Iyamu had a network of people who assisted her with trafficking the women from Nigeria overland to Libya – across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and from Italy up and into Germany.
“She was there on the mobile phone along the way but her real role was at the end of their journey – when it came to getting money from the women and making a profit out of their exploitation.
“The debts incurred by the women were enforced through fear. Each of the women were put through what is known to some as a voodoo ceremony.
“Iyamu and others involved with her were willing to put these women at risk of serious injury and or death as they made their journey from Nigeria to Europe.”
She will be sentenced next Wednesday.
Iyamu, who was born in Liberia, will be sentenced on Wednesday.
