A gang from Gloucester have been jailed for human trafficking after forcing women to work as prostitutes in Bristol. In a harrowing trial in Bristol the court heard how Jiri Mizer and his girlfriend Viera Sulcova worked with Vojtech Paloc to pimp out vulnerable women who were tricked into working for them. Bristol Crown Court heard how a couple and another man offered to help the women but instead they were made to work in the sex industry.
The women were advertised online and when that didn’t bring in enough cash they were told to work the streets. The court heard how most, if not all, of the cash the women earned would be given to the gang, who lived in Gloucester. One of the women who refused to carry on working as a prostitute was instead forced into a sham marriage.
READ: ‘My daughter told me she’d been spiked – then I saw CCTV of her necking a bottle of vodka’1
Prosecutor Charles Thomas said the women were “tricked and deceived” by the group’s intentions. One was taken from Gloucester to Bristol under the pretence she would be working as a cleaner, but ended up selling her body and giving much of the profits back to trio. Judge Mark Horton said it was clear the women were placed under pressure and threatened with violence.
He described one of the women as “used and abused” by the gang’s “trickery and deceit”. Jiri Mizer, 33, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years, for his horrific crimes including pimping out the women, human trafficking and setting up the sham marriage. Mizer’s girlfriend Viera Sulcova, 39, of Blenheim Road in Gloucester – who had previously been stabbed and had her ear bitten off by Mizer – sobbed uncontrollably throughout the sentencing.
READ: Webcam blackmail cases are going up in Gloucestershire2
Jailing her for seven-and-a-half years, Judge Horton speaking of one of the victims, told her: “You used her something like a personal slave.
“Even now you don’t understand how badly you treated her.”
Sulcova was found guilty of three counts of trafficking people for sexual exploitation, three counts of controlling prostitution for gain and one count of conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law. The court heard how she would act as a telephonist sorting out bookings and photographing the women for their internet profiles. Meanwhile Mizer worked as a driver taking them to appointments and also had a role in the security of the organisation.
The court heard how Vojtech Paloc, 40, who failed to attend the trial and was convicted in his absence had been arrested on Wednesday at his father’s home in the Czech Republic on a European Arrest Warrant. He was jailed for nine-and-a-half years in his absence after being convicted of two counts of trafficking people into the UK for sexual exploitation, two counts of controlling prostitution for gain and one count of conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law. The court heard how he would search and find the young women, under the pretence of helping them.
Police launched an investigation into the sexual exploitation five years ago after a series of raids took place focuses on addresses in the Easton and St Werburgh’s area of Bristol. Judge Horton said: “All three women were subject to the kind of psychological pressure where the defendant when they were vulnerable because they had no English no money and no friends or relations there.”
The court heard how they were forced to pay inflated travel costs to the trio and that Mizer would let his friends and associates use one of women sexually in exchange for drugs. Following the sentencing on Friday afternoon police released some of the statements made by two of the victims.
One said: “When I lived with my friend (after the offences were committed) I found it difficult to behave differently on a day to day basis than when I was ‘a slave’.
“When (my friend) gave me nice clothes I felt ‘I owed her’.
“I tend to bottle my emotions up during the day, but evenings I get very upset and often cry about the events and how I feel.
“I used to leave my home often on an evening. I now stay at home as I am worried about what used to happen to me when I went out at night during my time with the defendants.
“I still don’t think the whole situation has sunk in yet in relation to what the defendants did to me and how I feel about it.”
The second victim forced into marrying a landlord added: “The whole situation since these events has made me feel numb and I try not to think about it. If I do think about it (it) makes me feel low.
“I have received messages…that are threatening or intimidating due to me supporting a police prosecution against the defendants.
“This matter has caused me great worry and concern as I haven’t told my family any of the situations, as I am embarrassed.”
References
- ^ ‘My daughter told me she’d been spiked – then I saw CCTV of her necking a bottle of vodka’ (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
- ^ Webcam blackmail cases are going up in Gloucestershire (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)