A serial human trafficker, who was convicted of nine counts of trafficking after she hoodwinked nine desperate job seekers that they had found employment in Dubai but they ended up in Oman, was sentenced to 90 years in prison.
Caroline Ziyanga was convicted after a full trial by Harare magistrate Stanford Mambanje who sentenced her to ten years for each count.
Initially, she was facing eleven counts but two were withdrawn before plea.
Magistrate Mambanje, however, stated that counts three, four and five, six, seven and eight as well as nine, ten and eleven will run concurrently hence 30 years are effective.
The State represented by Oscar Madhume proved that sometime in January 2022, Ziyanga acted together with one Hamidah to traffic women to Oman for the purposes of enslavement and sexual exploitation.
She advertised non-existent lucrative jobs in Dubai through friends, relatives, associates and neighbours.
The complainants were referred to her as she was known to be assisting people to get employment in Dubai where she claimed they would get paid a salary of US$800 per month.
Acting on that misrepresentation, the complainants accepted the offer.
Ziyanga and Hamidah then processed visas and secured the air tickets for Oman instead of Dubai.
The complainants realised that they had been deceived on arrival in Oman when their passports were confiscated.
They were then forced to start working as housemaids, instead of nurse aides, and were subjected to inhumane treatment.
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