A 31-year old Marondera woman was arrested and appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court facing charges of violating the Trafficking in Persons Act after she recruited people and sold them to prospective buyers in Oman to work as house maids.
Karen Pamela Teguru who was represented by Kingston Mukanganwi appeared before Harare magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa who remanded her in custody pending trial.
Allegations are that on a period extending from January 2022 to August 2022, accused working in connivance with one Mamidah but believed to be in Oman and others who are still at large hatched a plan to traffick Portia Kalesi and Namatirai Muchacha for the purpose of labour and domestic exploitation.
lt is alleged that to achieve their goals they assigned each other some roles in which the accused person identified, recruited, processed travelling documents, medical examinations for the complainants and escorted them to Robert Mugabe International Airport destined for Oman instead of Dubai as promised.
The state further alleges that the accused escorted the complainants to make sure that they had flown out of the country into the hands of her accomplices.
The complainants allegedly realised that they had been duped upon arrival at Muscat International Airport, Oman instead of Dubai as promised.
The accused person’s accomplices provided money for medical examinations, air tickets, processing of visas and sourcing of markets on which the complainants would be sold well before they had reached Oman.
lt is alleged that upon arrival in Oman the complainants were received by accused’s accomplice Hamidah who would sell the complainants to prospective buyers who in turn would confiscate their travelling documents and drive them to different locations were they would be forced to work as house maids.
The complainants were subjected to domestic servitude, working around the clock, feeding on left overs, physically abused and denied freedom of movement by being restricted in doors.
The matter came to light when the complainants reported the matter to their relatives back home who in turn reported that matter to police.
The complainants fled from their abusers and sought assistance from Zimbabwean delegation which was dispatched to Oman to repatriate them.
