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A VICTIM OF human trafficking – who was forced to work in prostitution in Ireland by a criminal gang – has spoken out about her ordeal, asking the men who use prostitutes to think of the women involved.
“Mary” – not her real name – will speak tonight on RTÉ’s Crimecall about what happened her when she first arrived in Ireland. Mary had been led to believe that she was going to be working in a hospital, but instead the men who met her at Dublin Airport brought her to a brothel.
“They took everything, our passports and our bags,” Mary told the attackers.
She said that while she was there she tried to resist her traffickers, but was unable to escape.
“I tried to fight so hard. I was chained and I had bruises, but they said ‘it ‘doesn’t matter’,” she said.
Mary spoke about her ordeal, and what she had to do while she was kept by her traffickers.
“I remember they brought us… bikinis and there was some other sex toys,” she said.
You’re just in your room and different men come in they knock on your door and you can’t say no.
She talked about how her abuse continued for nearly a year, before she managed to escape. Speaking tonight, she will appeal for people to think about the lives of the women involved in prostitution.
“To the men they don’t know the people they are using… Let them imagine it was their daughters or their sisters… we are all human beings with the same blood,” she said.
Under laws brought into Ireland in 2017, it is illegal to purchase sex.
Gardaí said earlier that they had stopped and questioned 36 people over the weekend as part of an intelligence-led operation targeting the demand for prostitution and the purchasing of sexual services.
Commenting on Mary’s story, Sarah Benson – CEO of Ruhama, a charity set up to work with women affected by prostitution – said that men buying sex was not “a benign act without consequence”.
“It has fundamentally dehumanising effects for the most vulnerable members of our community. And since 2017 it has been a crime,” she said.
Pimps and traffickers have no market if men are not buying sex.
Other groups - like the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) – have claimed that the new laws have made life more dangerous for sex workers by pushing them further underground.
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God rest them! RIP
This is very sad if turns out to be what it looks like
@John Pett: Thats speculation for now.
@John Pett: What does it look like. Could be carbon monoxide poisoning.
@John Pett: stupid comment
@bmul: why stupid?. In view of the high rate of sucides in today’s money driven world, not a stupid comment. Premature perhaps. But dead is dead and in the case.of families very sad, no matter.what the cause
@John Pett: indeed. When death seems the only way out
But perhaps there is another cause.
@Patricia Mcnamara: is it not very sad no matter What the circumstances?
@Patricia Mcnamara: because people jump the gun and get it wrong as often as not
@Damo.f: Yes, you’re correct, it is speculation.
But should we not question the reason that it’s basically the first place we go to when we hear of these events.
Could it be that statistically we know what it’s likely to be?
@Niallers: Could be but that would be immediately recognisable. And it would likely cause evacuation of other apartments.
@Patricia Mcnamara: it’s stupid to speculate. That’s all.
@Niallers: My first thought was actually Carbon Monoxide Poisoning as well.
@James Wallace: that is what I wrote. Please reread my comments
@Patricia Mcnamara: you also speculate d on the cause .
@Niallers: I hope that’s the case for the sake of their friends and family
@Damo.f: only two realistic options to what happened. Neither good
@Patricia Mcnamara: of course stupid
It turns out that they are dead the remainder is speculation
@bmul: dead is.dead. self righteousness will not bring them back
3 weeks ago I lost a dear friend.through suicide
Sucide because of money. His friends had no idea of his situation. Now in death we are collecting for. His family.
@Patricia Mcnamara: not self-righteous just waiting for facts and showing a little respect you may want to try it
@bmul: you start and we might follow
@Hans Vos: …..
@Patricia Mcnamara:so sad and bitter
@Niallers: apparently carbon monoxide has been ruled out
@Patricia Mcnamara: too much speculation as usual here, probably best to wait for the police to give their conclusions based on evidence available to them.
@bmul: why are you so sad and bitter? Yell aunty all about it.
@Patricia Mcnamara: with no evident cause of death I’d reckon your wrong, hopefully.
@ObsidianShine: sadly, it wasnt my first thought..
@John Pett: sad regardless
@Dave O’Keeffe: Its not carbon monoxide.
@bmul: Don’t feed.
@Jointheclubtoo: that would be an evident cause of death.
Terrible news.
So sad……may They Rest In Peace.
May they rest in peace.
May they rest in peace.
First thing I would think is mental health issue, then carbon monoxide. There was a time when it would have been the other way around. Either way a very sad end for any family.
@Barry Dempsey: First thought was antidepressants…not mental health.
ADs are the petrol on the fire.
@Barry Dempsey: they ruled out carbon monoxide so very sad whatever else has happened.
Comments should not be allowed given the gibberish above, RIP
Print the facts and people won’t speculate. Try to cover it up and they will speculate.
@A Pop Fan’s Dream: they have published the facts as they stand. Anything more would be speculation
So so sad another family wiped out by someone they trusted. Rest in Peace
@Orla Cosgrave: Wonder will the perpetrator have been prescribed antidepressants by a doctor they trusted?
God Bless those poor people Tragic RIP
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