A former police officer in the North and a woman have been remanded in custody and charged with human trafficking and controlling prostitution.
The accused, who appeared at Belfast Magistrates Court this morning, are the former policeman Simon Dempsey (39) from Newtownards in Co. Down and Chen Rong (32), a Chinese woman with an address at Kidderminster, in the English county of Worcestershire.
Both are alleged to "have facilitated the arrival of people in the UK, knowing a sexual offence would be committed".
Or, in normal English: They are accused of having smuggled Chinese prostitutes into Britain.
Last Thursday police officers raided a number of suspected brothels in Belfast, Derry and Newry and liberated six Chinese women who had been forced by a Chinese criminal gang to work there as prostitutes.
The women are now being cared for by specialist officers from Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
Police opposed bail for both accused, because the detective said he feared that they would flee the country, and interfere with identified and as yet unidentified victims.
A solicitor for Chen Rong claimed that the accused had herself been a prostitute before "being used by sinister people", while Simon Dempsey's lawyer claimed that the Chinese woman "had duped him" and that in fact "he knew nothing about the women being used as prostitutes".
Looks and sounds as if the two of them rather deserve each other.
The Magistrate refused bail for both defendants, and they were remanded in custody until June 26th.
The accused, who appeared at Belfast Magistrates Court this morning, are the former policeman Simon Dempsey (39) from Newtownards in Co. Down and Chen Rong (32), a Chinese woman with an address at Kidderminster, in the English county of Worcestershire.
Both are alleged to "have facilitated the arrival of people in the UK, knowing a sexual offence would be committed".
Or, in normal English: They are accused of having smuggled Chinese prostitutes into Britain.
Last Thursday police officers raided a number of suspected brothels in Belfast, Derry and Newry and liberated six Chinese women who had been forced by a Chinese criminal gang to work there as prostitutes.
The women are now being cared for by specialist officers from Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
Police opposed bail for both accused, because the detective said he feared that they would flee the country, and interfere with identified and as yet unidentified victims.
A solicitor for Chen Rong claimed that the accused had herself been a prostitute before "being used by sinister people", while Simon Dempsey's lawyer claimed that the Chinese woman "had duped him" and that in fact "he knew nothing about the women being used as prostitutes".
Looks and sounds as if the two of them rather deserve each other.
The Magistrate refused bail for both defendants, and they were remanded in custody until June 26th.
2 comments:
Both Rong and Dempsey should be exiled to China
Excellent idea.
Post a Comment