How response to job ad landed pregnant woman in sex trafficking nightmare
A taxi driver has rescued a pregnant woman from a sex trafficker who held her hostage in a brothel after she responded to a job ad.
Tahir Mehmood called the police after the Romanian woman burst into tears in his cab in Coventry, England, in February 2018.
The unnamed woman was three months pregnant and came to Britain that same month after answering an advert offering work as a masseuse.
The woman was held hostage for two days in a squalid London brothel where she was forced to pose in lingerie for photos posted on sex industry websites, before being moved to Coventry.
Robert Enescu, 26, was found guilty of sex trafficking the woman after it was revealed he ordered a taxi for her to his Coventry brothel the night she was rescued.
He was charged and found guilty earlier this month of sex trafficking and jailed for nine years in his absence, after he skipped bail.
West Midlands Police is now working with forces across the UK and Europol to track him down and bring him to justice.
Detective Inspector Wes Martin said in a statement the woman responded to the ad, thinking it was a legitimate job.
“Within hours she realised she was in danger,” he said.
“She was kept locked in a room at an address in Enfield with no food or heating. Just a mattress to lie on and a bucket as a toilet. She said she had no way to escape: the door was locked from the outside and had no handle on the inside.
“She was too afraid to jump from a window as she was pregnant; she tried to raise the alarm by shouting help but no one replied.
“She had a phone but there was no signal.”
Two days later she was driven to Coventry where it was clear Enescu intended to force her into prostitution, police said.
Moment taxi driver rescues woman
The taxi driver, a married father-of-two, called the police after the woman told him she was being forced into prostitution.
Police bodycam footage shows Mr Mehmood explaining the moment he realised she was in trouble.
“The man [Enescu] asked me if I could take her to St Christian's Road. The lady got in the cab. When I go a little, the lady was upset. She was crying,” Mr Mehmood told Birmingham Live.
"I said, 'What's up, love? Why are you crying?' I stopped the taxi and said, 'Just tell me what's happened.'
"She said, 'I don't know here, I just came here four days before, come to here to do massage, but they tell me go to prostitution, to do sex, but I don't want to do it’."
The brothel was raided by police the following day and several other women were rescued. Enescu was arrested at his home in Kingfield Road, Coventry, but has since gone on the run.
Detective Inspector Martin said when officers intercepted the taxi all the pregnant woman had in her possession was a bag of around 50 condoms Enescu had given her. He'd earlier smashed her mobile phone and stolen what money she had.
"My officers worked tremendously hard to secure this conviction: they safeguarded the woman, liaised with officers in Romania, helped return her safely home and kept in touch while the case progressed,” he said.
"It was this compassionate and sensitive response which reassured the woman and gave her the confidence to come back to the UK to give evidence."
– With Yahoo! UK
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter, download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo’s daily newsletter. Sign up here.
