Still no bail for alleged sex traffickers

A VENEZUELAN woman and her Chinese boyfriend, who face a total of 43 charges stemming from an alleged sex-ring bust in Westmoorings and Woodbrook in February, have again been remanded without bail being considered.

The couple, Solient Torres, 23, and her boyfriend, Jinfu Zhu, appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine in the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

They were remanded to prison since the Interpol tracing of the two was still unavailable. They are to return to court on May 15.

The couple first appeared in court on March 15, charged under the Sexual Offences and Proceeds of Crime Acts. Of the 43 charges against them, 42 of them fall under the Sexual Offences Act.

Torres and Zhu were arrested on February 5, along with several other Chinese and Venezuelan nationals, during a raid in which police rescued 19 Spanish-speaking girls between the ages of 15 and 19 from a house at Western Circle, Westmoorings. Private and commercial properties in Curepe and Woodbrook were also raided.

As well as Torres and Zhu, four others held in the raid were charged – two for assembling to gamble and possession of ammunition, and two on charges that they harboured two young girls for sexual exploitation.