Canterbury crown court, where the case is being heard

by Paul Hooper

A former Gravesend security guard smuggled children into the UK using witchcraft in order to turn them into prostitutes, it was alleged today.

Osezua Elvis Osolase, 42, has denied 13 offences of trafficking, rape, false imprisonment and sexual activity with a child.

Prosecutor Sarah Ellis told the jury at Canterbury Crown Court: “This case involves allegations in respect of three young Nigerian girls who were trafficked from Nigeria into the UK in order to traffic them out of the UK and to Europe for the purposes of prostitution.”

She claimed the three girls were also subject to juju rituals – a word describing the traditional West African religions involving objects of superstition and witchcraft.

Ms Ellis said: “In this case the complainants were subjected to juju rituals in an effort to ensure that they would do as they were told, that they would not run away, that they would repay the defendant and that they would never reveal the truth about what really happened to them and the ordeals to which they were subjected for fear of death or serious harm.”

She told the jury: “You will hear something about juju ceremonies during the trial and the very powerful effect that they can have on people like the complainants in this case.”

Osolase – who was living with a German woman in Beaumont Drive, Gravesend and worked at a recycling plant – is also alleged to have sexually abused the girls, now aged 15, 17 and 18.

"she was told that if she ran away or didn’t pay that she would die. she believed it" – prosecutor sarah ellis

The prosecutor claimed that the 17-year-old was taken to a house in April last year and told she was to be sold to work as a prostitute in Italy.

In Nigeria she alleged that Osolase found her begging and offered to bring her to the UK to get an education.

Ms Ellis said: “He called himself ‘Victor’ and took her to a large house – a place she described a “place of witchcraft’.

“There she was given what she described as ‘native port’, a mixture which looked like blood and a red cloth.

“She was told to use this liquid to bathe and to tie a cloth around herself after doing so.

“A man came and cut hair under her armpits and finger and toenails and blood from her right hand.

"She was told this was to ensure she did not run away and would repay Victor. She said it was an “oath” and if she ran away the charm would find her.

“She was told that if she ran away or didn’t pay that she would die. She believed it,” it was alleged.

The prosecutor added that she was given a passport – which had been lost by its genuine owner – some years earlier and taken to Italy. But at the airport she refused to go through customs and asked for help.

The prosecutor said the teenager was returned to Stansted where she eventually admitted to being Nigerian.

The same month the 15-year-old was alleged to have been brought to the UK and taken to Osolase’s home where she alleged she was sexually abused.

Ms Ellis alleged that she was also taken, along with the 17-year-old, and sent to Italy again with a stolen passport.

In July the 18-year-old arrived and was locked inside a flat and told she was going to Italy to meet “her madam” and to work as a prostitute, it was claimed.

The prosecution claimed that an investigation of Osolase’s travelling in Europe revealed that the three were not his only victims.

The trial at Canterbury Crown Court is expected to last eight weeks and among the prosecution witnesses will be an expert in juju.