A Chinese man and his Venezuelan girlfriend have been freed of 43 prostitution charges related to operating a brothel in Westmoorings due to the failure of the Venezuelan prostitutes to testify against them.
Jinfu Zhu and Soleith Torres were freed by Magistrate Adia Mohammed yesterday after Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal conceded that they could not be prosecuted without the victims’ evidence.
The couple was arrested after police officers claimed that they executed a search warrant for illegal firearms and ammunition at a house at West Circle, in Westmoorings, on February 4, 2019.
Police officers claimed that they found the couple in the house with four Venezuelan victims. They also claimed they found quantities of cash in various regional currencies including TT$80,000 and US$2,393.
The four Venezuelan women were interviewed and allegedly claimed that they were invited to come to Trinidad to engage in prostitution.
They claimed that after arriving in Trinidad illegally, they were collected and taken to a house in Westmoorings.
They claimed that two people provided them with meals and arranged for Chinese nationals to have sex with them for money, which they (the two people) kept.
Torres and Zhu were slapped with 23 charges for keeping a brothel, while Torres solely faced 20 charges for aiding and abetting prostitution. The couple was also jointly charged with money laundering.
The couple spent several months on remand before they were each granted $300,000 bail with Zhu being placed on electronic monitoring. Torres was placed on an order of supervision by immigration officials as she was found to be in the country illegally.
After giving statements to investigators, the alleged victims were allowed to return to Venezuela on the condition that they would return to give evidence in the case.
When the preliminary inquiry in the case began in September last year, Dougdeen-Jaglal made an application under the Evidence Act to have the victims’ statements be tendered into evidence in lieu of them testifying in court on the basis that it was not reasonably practicable to secure their attendance.
The application was opposed by attorney Chase Pegus, who represented Torres, and Zhu’s lawyer Taradath Singh, who submitted the DPP’s Office failed to prove that the victims were outside the jurisdiction and was responsible for their return to Venezuela.
After Magistrate Mohammed eventually upheld the objection, Dougdeen-Jaglal conceded that the charges should be dismissed as the State could not make out a prima facie case against the couple without the statements.
However, Magistrate Mohammed did rule that there was sufficient evidence in relation to the money laundering charges and committed the couple to stand trial for it.
Torres was also represented by Danyal Mohammed.
