Cave house ‘madam’ sentence call

THE Almeria Public Prosecutor has called for a six-year sentence for a Nigerian woman accused of forcing a compatriot to prostitute herself at a cave house in Cuevas del Almanzora. 

According to Spanish media reports, in 2016 U.V.A. used a family member to convince the victim she would be able to find her work in Spain, and to risk travelling overland to Libya, and from there to make the crossing to Europe in a small boat transporting immigrants illegally. 

The suspicion, Spanish press said, is that the accused is linked to an international network. 

After a spell in an Italian refugee camp, in 2017 an individual believed to be connected to the same organisation took the victim to Cuevas, where, the Public Prosecutor said, she found out she would have to work as a prostitute and where she was “intimidated, threatened and hit” by the accused. 

The Public Prosecutor underlined the particularly vulnerable situation of the woman who was in Spain “with no documentation, without knowing anyone except U.V.A, without financial support or family, finding herself in an unknown county where she also did not speak the language.” 

They maintained the victim had been beaten for initially refusing to have sexual relations with men in exchange for money, but had been left with no other option. Also, that she had been made to work at all hours and without any days off, handing over all the cash she made to the accused to pay off a supposed €30,000 debt for being brought to Spain. 

U.V.A, who allegedly acted as a ‘madam’, faces not only time behind bars but also being obliged to pay the victim €25,000 compensation.