Senior Magistrate Leron Daly on Wednesday remanded a 34-year-old Guyanese woman who appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to the charge of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation allegedly committed against four Venezuelan nationals.
Fiona Hopkinson denied both allegations, the first one detailed that between September 1, 2018, and October 31, 2018, at Club Diamond, Georgetown she harboured and transported four Venezuelan women for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Another charge against Hopkinson detailed that she unlawfully withheld an identification card which belonged to one of the women.
According to police reports, the four victims were arrested during a roadblock operation on November 3, 2018 and were taken into custody where they did not have their identification cards in their possession.
The foreign nationals claimed that they were seeking employment when the defendant employed them to work as prostitutes at the aforementioned location, they further claimed that Hopkinson was in possession of their identification documents after she reportedly took it from them and promised to return it.
Additionally, Police Prosecutor Sanj Singh objected to bail noting that the defendant has similar pending matters in another court.
Magistrate Daly upheld the prosecution’s submission and remanded Hopkinson to prison until February 6, 2019.
