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Prosper Dembedza : Court Correspondent

A 30-year-old Harare woman, believed to be part of a well-organised human trafficking syndicate that lured female job seekers to Kuwait on the pretext that they had secured decent employment, when in actual fact they had been sold into prostitution and other menial jobs, appeared in court yesterday. Norest Maruma was facing eight counts of contravening sections of the Trafficking in Persons Act (Recruits, transfers, harbours or receives another person that he or she knows or suspects is being or is likely to be trafficked or attempts, assists or conspires with others for the commission of the crime of trafficking) when she appeared before magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe.

Maruma will be back in court today for her bail hearing.

Allegations are that in February this year, Maruma unlawfully and intentionally recruited and transferred the first complainant to work as a maid in Kuwait.

As soon as the complainant got into Kuwait, her passport was taken away.

The court heard that she fell into slavery and exploitation. She would work for more than 22 hours a day without rest.

It is the State’s case that the complainant was not allowed to communicate with the outside world and suffered trauma and experienced psychological disturbances.

The court heard that Maruma used the same modus operandi on seven other victims.

It is alleged that the seven victims and the first complainant managed to flee from their employers and were repatriated back into the country by the Zimbabwean Government after seeking assistance from the country’s embassy in Kuwait.