A woman has told a court how she was beaten, dragged to a car and “stolen” from her home in Slovakia before being forced into prostitution.
Giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, the 25-year-old detailed how in 2014 she had been taken to an unknown city by a man she called Vojtech.
The mother-of-two said she did not want to go but was forced, leaving without telling her mother she was going.
Under examination by Advocate Depute Kath Harper, the woman said she had escaped twice but the first time was returned to Vojtech by a shopkeeper she approached for help. Eventually, she told the court via video link from Slovakia, she was assisted by police.
The woman was giving evidence at the trial of Vojtech Gombar, 61, Anil Wagle, 37, Jana Sandorova, 28, and Ratislav Adam, 31, who deny trafficking women.
Prosecutors allege women were brought over from Slovakia to Govanhill and held in “slavery and servitude” between 2011 and 2017.
The witness said she was approached by Vojtech and first taken to another property by him and “a driver”. From there, she told the court she was taken to another city but had no memory of the journey or knowledge of where the city was.
Once in the city she was held at Vojtech’s flat, she said, where he lived with his wife, who she named as Sylvia. She said she was forced to sleep in a “corridor” and that she was kept locked in the property with another woman.The witness recalled seeing Vojtech’s daughter, Janka, and claimed that Janka beat her.
Ms Harper asked the witness if anything happened in the house that made her unhappy. She described being taken to a block of flats by the other woman living in the flat but not knowing why.
“There were two men on me. They were not nice, really smelly,” she told the court.
“I did not want to sleep with them. One hit me and he took money back from the woman.”
Ms Harper asked the witness to clarify if she meant the men had sex with her and she replied: “Yes.”
The woman said that one day she managed to escape and run to a nearby vegetable shop to ask for help, saying Vojtech had her identification card.
She said: “He took me by the elbow and took me back to him because they were friends.”
On one occasion, the woman said she saw Vojtech negotiating with a Pakistani man to sell her.
After this she ran away, going to another local shop where, she told the court, she was crying and could only repeat: “I have a problem.”
This shopkeeper, the witness said, called the police who assisted her in retrieving her ID card and travelling to London, where her sister lived.
Ronnie Renucci QC, acting for the accused Gombar, detailed discrepancies between the police statements and the evidence given in court. He asked that if she had seen customs or border guards on route would she have told them what was happening. She replied: “Yes.”
“But you didn’t tell anyone, did you?” the lawyer asked. The witness said she did not remember.
“I am going to suggest to you that Vojtech did not steal you,” Mr Renucci said.
“I just have it mixed up in my head. There is a lot. I can’t lie,” the witness replied.
Mr Renucci said: “You have made it all up.” The trial continues.
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