REGGIO CALABRIA The Court of Assizes of Reggio Calabria has sentenced Sonia Osazee, a 41-year-old Nigerian woman accused of human trafficking, enslavement, exploitation of prostitution and sexual violence, to 20 years in prison. The sentence, which was issued today by President Natina Pratticò, also inflicted 9 years in prison on Sunday Ediorans, 31, also a Nigerian who was only charged with human trafficking.
The investigations
The trial was born from an investigation by the Reggio Emilia flying squad following the complaint of the young Nigerian who was first subjected to the “juju ritual” and then, once she arrived in Italy on the boat, ended up on a sidewalk in Castel Volturno, in the province of Caserta, where she was forced to prostitute herself to pay for the trip. According to the investigation, in fact, Sonia Osazee “recruited, introduced into the territory of the State and hosted the offended person over whom – we read in the indictment – she exercised powers corresponding to the right to property, keeping her in a state of continuous subjection and forcing her to work of a sexual nature, with threats (to kill her family of origin and make her return to Nigeria), deception (having represented to her that she was coming to undertake studies), abuse of authority (for being older), taking advantage of a situation of vulnerability, of physical and psychological inferiority and of a situation of necessity”. Reported in 2020, the facts refer to 2016 when, with the illusion of having her undertake studies, the victim landed in Reggio Calabria. Realizing that she had been deceived, the girl tried to escape several times and, when she expressed her intention to go to the police, Sonia Osazee “had her transferred to Germany, specifically to Karlsruhe, – we always read in the investigation papers – having her brother Sunday Ediorans accompany her on the train to an unidentified sister, named Juliet, also ‘madame’, with the intention of having her continue her prostitution activity”. A story reconstructed during the indictment by prosecutor Sara Amerio and which, in recent months, was told in court by the victim herself. (Ansa)
