A Hungarian married couple accused of forcing two adult women into prostitution had their assets frozen and were remanded in custody.
The 39-year-old husband and the 34-year-old wife were escorted to court under arrest and charged with forcing the two women, one of whom appeared to be the wife’s sister, into the illicit business.
The couple was also charged with having kept a brothel, lived over the past months or years wholly or in part on the earnings of prostitution and causing their victims to fear violence.
The prosecution stated that this case had potentially presented a more complex and serious web of human trafficking. It pointed out that this appeared to be a family-run prostitution racket managed by the couple from their residence in St Paul’s Bay.
The court was told how husband and wife lived in an apartment together with their 14-year old daughter, the wife’s sister and another woman. The female co-accused would allegedly handle customers, taking bookings over the phone and managing some 15 appointments daily.
The prosecution further explained how the couple’s daughter had been living in an unhealthy environment, attending school only for 15 days throughout this...
