Raid

[Prickly]

How can they be trafficked and guilty of an offence? They're either offenders or victims or is the law so screwed up that somebody can be both?

[Mister Anderson]

Do you mean avoid Washington street??

In lieu of what's going on now ... yes. That complex on washington street has alway been dodgy.

ne pas?

[SteveB]

How can they be trafficked and guilty of an offence? They're either offenders or victims or is the law so screwed up that somebody can be both?

You can be guilty of anything if you admit it, plead guilty, and don't get proper legal advice.
From what little I know about this case (from only reading what is here and on RTE news admittedly) a half-competent lawyer would have driven a coach and four throught the entire case.

I would suspect they didn't want any fuss so they let the cops convince them to "own up" and this is the result.

[SteveB]

As a representative of the state a Judge is obliged to beleave a Garda's word over a citizen.



Remember dude at the moment you are not breaking any laws. Punt away where you want.

Perhaps? when he/she is giving evidence of what he/she saw, heard, etc. but belief is not evidence. Law is based on evidence.

[Prickly]

A bit more detail in the Irish Times.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime...thel-1.2849914

Four women plead guilty to operating Galway brothel
They deny they were trafficked and say they were acting alone, to raise money for families


Gardaí believe four Romanian women who were arrested in Galway over the weekend were trafficked into Ireland, by a criminal gang, to work in brothels across the country.
The four women – aged 21, 22, 23 and 30 – appeared before a special sitting of Galway District Court on Monday, which heard they were believed to have been brought into the country by either Dublin or Belfast-based pimps to provide sexual services for a large number of men through the Escort Ireland website.
The women deny this and claim they were acting alone – to raise money for their impoverished families in Romania.
The court heard they were arrested at An Larnach, Bohermore, Galway, at 11pm on Saturday and pleaded guilty to operating a brothel there.
The arrests were made an hour after gardaí, who had been monitoring the property, questioned a man leaving the apartment who said he had paid €70 for sexual favours.
Det Sgt Willie Byrne said the four women were taken to Galway Garda station and accepted full responsibility for operating a brothel.
Some €5,000 in cash was confiscated from the women, he added.
Abused
The young women told gardaí they only arrived in Ireland last week and were acting alone.
“In any event, they are four little girls and they made full admissions that they were providing sexual services to a large number of men through the website, Escort Ireland,” he said.
“They were paying €700 rent to a greedy landlord for an apartment that they should have been paying €350 for. So, they were being used and abused by a lot of people.”
In reply to Judge Gerard Furlong, Det Sgt Byrne said he did not believe the women when they said they worked alone.
“I believe they are under the control of Dublin or Belfast-based pimps. They were in Mayo last week, Galway this week and Wexford next week . . . That would have to be organised by others. They wouldn’t have the ‘wherewithal’ to organise that themselves.”

Judge Furlong said he accepted the girls had not set up the brothel themselves and another party was involved who was not before the court at this time.
Det Sgt Byrne said he had mentioned the help some organisations could afford them, but the women had assured him they were not trafficked into the country and were not under any pressure.

They said they would prefer to be repatriated to Romania and he said he hoped what they had told him was genuine.
Defence solicitor Brian Gilmartin said the women came from a very poor part of Romania and told him they had come to Ireland to make some money to help their parents.
“They are somewhat vulnerable and they didn’t believe their actions would bring them before the courts. They have spent two nights in Garda custody and it’s been a frightening experience for them,” he added.
Ruling the women were being used by others not before the court, Judge Furlong convicted and fined each of them €200, payable forthwith, and asked the gardaí to put them in contact with organisations who would help them.

[Prickly]

Perhaps? when he/she is giving evidence of what he/she saw, heard, etc. but belief is not evidence. Law is based on evidence.

According to the IT article he believes they're "four little girls". Yet he holds them in custody for two nights.

T'his whole case reeks of double standards.

[SteveB]

" they made full admissions "

Never admit anything until you get legal advice.

[SteveB]

Unfortunately when it is your word against a Garda the law is clear. I know this from experience.

But thankfully the judiciary is genuinely independent in this county. And they can smell bullshit a mile off.

When it is your word against a Garda it is not a case of "the law is clear" but, especially in the lower courts, the judge in the real world is, as you say, inclined to accept their “opinion” or “belief” against what you say.

[Best Before]

Four women have been fined €200 each after being arrested in a brothel on Galway over the weekend.

At a special sitting of Galway District Court this afternoon, gardaí outlined how they believed the four had been trafficked into Ireland by a criminal gang.

The women - aged 21, 22, 23 and 30 - are all originally from Romania. They denied they were working for pimps and instead claimed they were acting alone to raise money for their families.

They were arrested at 15 An Larnach, Bohermore, Galway, on Saturday night and immediately admitted to operating a brothel at that address.

The arrests were made an hour after gardaí quizzed a man leaving the apartment who said he had just paid for sexual favours.

The court heard the women were being charged €700 a week to rent the apartment, a short distance from the city centre.

Detective Sergeant Willie Byrne said gardaí had been carrying out surveillance on the apartment over the last number of weeks.

Det. Byrne gave evidence gardaí did not know how long the young women were in Ireland but they had been in Mayo last week and after spending a week in Galway, it was their intention to go to Wexford next week.

In reply to Judge Gerard Furlong, Det. Byrne said he didn’t believe the women when they told him they worked alone. He told the Judge it was his belief the women were "under the control of Dublin or Belfast-based pimps."

Gardaí confiscated €5,000 cash from the girls.

Ruling the girls were being used by others not before the court, Judge Furlong convicted and fined each of them €200 and asked the gardaí to put them in contact with the relevant organisations who would help them.

I'm still always amazed how these raids get reported. The girls are always Trafficked, for a juicier story. If indeed the girls were Trafficked, then why not go after the Pimps instead of the girls?

[Curvaceous Kate]

If 'real men don't buy sex', then surely 'real courts don't steal from the vulnerable'.

If they believe these women are trafficked and the women have told them that they are there because their families are poor and they need money. Why are they taking their earnings from them and then fining them 200e each. Even if they can legitimise the taking of earnings believing that the pimp would get it, there is no explanation for fining the girls. Fining them for being vulnerable (which they suggest they are).

It's theft. It's stealing from the poor to give to the rich (Ruhama).

I am not really understanding how they are calling them 'young girls' when one of them is 30 and the others all in their 20's. They are not exactly the 13 year olds that Ruhama keep going on about. They are adults.