Marondera Woman Arrested For Human Trafficking
A 35-year-old woman from Marondera appeared in court on Friday on allegations of trafficking two women to Oman.
Farisai Mupeti appeared before a Harare magistrate facing charges of human trafficking after she allegedly lured two Zimbabweans to Oman where they were enslaved.
Prosecutors told the court that one of the complainants, Murriam Zihumo left Harare in November last year under the impression that she has secured a good-paying job in Dubai.
However, Zihumo found herself in Oman where she was exploited by her employers for three months. It became apparent to the complainants that she had been bought.
The other complainant, Isabel Mushoriwa, was also tricked by Mupeti into slavery in Oman on the pretext that she had secured a lucrative job in Dubai.
The two women allegedly escaped from slavery after claiming that they needed to attend to urgent family issues.
Mupeti was arrested after the complainants returned home and reported the matter to the police.
She was remanded out of custody to 1 June since she is breastfeeding.
Mupeti’s suspected accomplice, Nyasha Allioms, is still at large and believed to be in Oman.
A human trafficking victim who escaped from Oman recently revealed that she lied to her bosses that her mother had died. She said:
After telling them that my mother had died, my bosses demanded a burial order.
My relatives back home then managed to secure a fake burial order which they sent to Oman.
The bosses demanded that my relatives buy plane tickets, including the return ticket.
After learning of my ordeal, the travelling agent sent a counterfeit return ticket, which convinced the bosses that would return to them.
I was given US$300 as my salary, but my male boss took US$100 from me saying it was surety for my return. They also barred me from packing all my clothes.
