Court sentences a mother, children to prison for child trafficking in Benin

A Nigerian court in Benin, Edo State has sentenced a mother and her children to years in prison for trafficking a 19-year old girl to Russia.

The mother identified as Helen Ehioze was sentenced to 10 years in prison while her son and daughter Endurance Ehiozee, 37, and Vivian Ehiozee, 31, bagged 14 years jail term each without the option of fine.

The case against Helen Ehioze and her children began in 2017, three years after the victim ( name withheld) was trafficked for sexual exploitation in 2012.

Presiding over the case, Mrs Rosemary Emodogo Esq. stated that the convicts contravened the law of the land which prohibits the trafficking of persons for prostitution.

Girls account for 23% of all trafficking victims detected globally, according to a 2018 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, produced by the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC).