Tullamore native garda speaks out about horror of women trafficked to Mullingar for sex

By Eilís Ryan

The shocking story of how four women who came to Mullingar believing they were to work as nurses, shop assistants or care workers were instead forced to work as prostitutes is to be told this Wednesday night, October 23, on RTÉ One.

The finale of the true crime series ‘The Case I Can't Forget - Trafficked for Sex’ reveals how the investigation by Mullingar gardaí into the plight of the four Nigerian women led to the first ever conviction for human trafficking in Ireland.

Tullamore native garda, Niall Stack, sets out how the investigation discovered the women had been placed under what they believed to be a curse before leaving their native Nigeria for what they were assured were good jobs in Mullingar.

In court, Alicia Edosa of The Harbour, Market Point, Mullingar, and Edith Enoghaghase (31), of Meeting House Lane, Mullingar, were each found guilty on two counts of trafficking women from Nigeria into Ireland and of organising prostitution.

They were also convicted of money laundering, as was Omonuwa Desmond Osaighbovo, the husband of Edith Enoghaghase.

In the documentary, which is also to be made available on the RTE player, Superintendent Dermot Drea, Detective Garda Niall Stack and Garda Karen Coghlan of Mullingar garda station set out the details of the arduous investigation. At one point, Garda Coghlan becomes upset as she recalls the young women's ordeal.

The work of the gardaí revealed that the women were transported from Nigeria to Ireland with falsified passports, arriving in Dublin and soon finding themselves in Mullingar, where their nightmare began.

Alicia Edosa, one of the traffickers, took control of the victims’ documents and personal belongings, ensuring their total dependence.

It emerged in the investigation that the women had been afraid to approach the authorities because they had been forced to undertake a religious ritual known as Juju before leaving Nigeria and believed they were under a curse of death if they were to report their traffickers.

Once in Mullingar, the women were subjected to a life of fear and control, forced to perform sexual services not only in Mullingar but also in towns like Galway, Cork, and Donegal.

Gardaí discovered that the traffickers used a well-known international website to advertise the women, offering various explicit services and arranging for clients to visit them in rented apartments.

Barbara Condon of the charity Ruhama which supports victims of prostitution and trafficking states in the programme that as many as one in every 15 Irish men avails of the services of prostitutes. She said the men are largely well-educated, middle-class men, many of whom are in relationships.

For the victims, the trauma lingers. Quoted in the documentary is one of the women who testified in court: “I have lost everything. My family, my friends, my happiness is all gone. I have done things and have had things done to me that are disgusting.

"I'm always annoyed. I'm always angry. I hate everything. I'm afraid to step outside where I now sleep. I don't like talking to anybody. I don't even care about myself. I'm just living.”

The Case I Can't Forget - Trafficked for Sex - Wednesday, October 23 at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player