Justice Geraldine Imadegbelo of a Benin High Court has sentenced 62-year-old popular Benin-based socialite, Felicia Osaigbovo, alias Mama Masha to 12 years imprisonment for human trafficking.

The court also fined the convict N24 million for the offence. Osaigbovo, who lives at Okuarobo Street, Off St. Saviour Street in the Upper Sakponba neighbourhood of the Edo State capital, was arraigned on a 24-count charge by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

The 62-year-old was a member of a human trafficking syndicate, involved in the recruitment and trafficking of 12 Nigerian girls to Belgium for sexual exploitation.

Notably, 12 collaborators, including three of the convict’s children, have already been convicted in Belgium. The case against the convict commenced on July 1, 2021, with a 24-count charge that included assisting the activities of persons engaged in trafficking in persons and organising foreign travels that promote prostitution, in violation of the Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Enforcement and Administration Act (TIPPEA), 2015.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to all counts. The prosecution presented three witnesses, including a Belgian Chief Inspector of Police, Mr. Jimmy Wellem Hendrik, who flew in from Brussels on May 31 to testify, and submitted 13 exhibits as evidence.

Hendrik told the court that three of the woman’s children, Aigbe Egberanmen and Aigbe Daniel were sentenced to six and five years in jail respectively with €108,000 fine as well.

Also, her brother, Osaigbovo Nathaniel, bagged five years imprisonment and a fine of €48,000, Hendrik testified. The Belgian police officer said the suspect could have been tried in absentia in Belgium based on the overwhelming evidence sourced from the several victims, who escaped from the prostitution ring and officially told stories of how Mrs. Osaigbovo, who also goes by the alias, Mama Masha recruited them in Benin City and took them to Europe for sexual exploitation and prostitution.

The Belgian who was cross-examined by the counsel to the defendant painted a graphic picture of how Nigerian girls who were recruited to Belgium and other European countries dressed almost naked, standing right by their windows and in private clubs, soliciting customers.

The age of the victims who numbered 24 ranges from 14 to 23, and were trafficked in March 2015 by Mama Masha from Benin to her children, Juliet Egberanmwen Aigbe and Osaigbovo Nathaniel based in Antwerp, Belgium for prostitution.

At the conclusion of trial, the court found the convict guilty on all 24 counts, leading to a sentence of 12 years in prison and a fine of N24 million.

Reacting, the agency said Osaigbovo’s conviction was an attestation that NAPTIP remains resolute in its mission to combat human trafficking and bring offenders to justice.

Director General, NAPTIP, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, said the conviction was one of the high-profile cases the agency has been pursuing and the sentencing serves as a strong warning to others involved or intending to go into the crime of human trafficking.

She lauded the collaborative efforts of the Belgium Police Authorities; the Federal Ministry of Justice, Britain; the National Crime Agency under the Joint Border Task Force Initiative, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, (UNODC), in ensuring justice for the victims.

“NAPTIP shall continue working tirelessly to ensure a safer and better society,” the DG said.