Court Moves To Prostitutes Base

By Stephen Kwabena Effah
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

The Accra Circuit Court trying the three Chinese who allegedly trafficked seven female Chinese into the country for prostitution, went on a fact-finding mission yesterday to the house where the victims were allegedly exploited.

The trip was at the request of the prosecution to enable it to prove its case that the house, which is located at La, a suburb of Accra, was being used as a brothel and not as a restaurant as claimed by the accused.

The team, led by the prosecutor, ASP Mary Agbozo, included Mrs.Elizabeth Ankumah, the presiding judge; the court clerks, head of the Police Human Trafficking Unit, the accused persons and their counsel, as well as the media.

The team was shown round the six-room self-contained house which was used by the three accused persons and the seven trafficked females, after which the judge interviewed some of the neighbours in the area.

The accused persons, James Xu Jim, his wife, Chou Xiou Ying and his brother, Sam Shan Zifan, are facing two counts of conspiracy and human trafficking. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Those the court officials spoke to during the visit claimed to have had no idea about what went on in the house although they were certain that it could not be a restaurant.

A middle-aged woman who declined to give her name told the team that she rented the house to James at a cost of GH¢350 a month. She said "the main gate to the house is locked all the time".

A store keeper located directly opposite the house denied the claim that the house was a restaurant, adding the girls (victims) always went out in the day and returned very late at night "carrying foods." She said she never saw a black person ever entering the house.

Another man who lives near the house, told the team that he was aware of some Chinese in that house which he said was not a restaurant.

Earlier in court, Zifan, during cross-examination, denied having told the police in his statement that the victims’ main business was prostitution and that he was paid 600 dollars a month by James.

He, however, admitted that he took the 18-year- old victim to an Indian in a hotel in Accra where he (Zifan) was given 100-dollars but denied the prosecution’s claim that it was in payment for the victim’s sexual service.

Zifan also said he only interpreted for the victims in the said restaurant. When the "customers want to say hello to the girls…the girls will call me to translate."

He told the court that the place was a restaurant they were operating and not a brothel, adding that he was the cook, and denied having abetted Jim and Ying to sexually exploit the victims through his translation between the girls and the clients.

A fourth defence witness, Pan Jiasong, who operates a restaurant at Tabora, a suburb of Accra, told the court the house was a restaurant, where he regularly went there to eat in the day time.

He said the victims were introduced to him by Jim as Ying’s "fellows and are here (Ghana) looking for job" and added that he also met the victims many times at the La Palm Casino when he went there to play cards.

Asked by the prosecution whether he would call the living room of the house as a restaurant, he replied affirmatively, saying "it is because in China, a lot of restaurants are decorated this way."
He said there were times he met some blacks in the restaurant who went there to buy take-away food.

He denied that he was a regular customer of the sex trade and had been going there to the house to satisfy his sexual desires.

Hearing continues tomorrow.