An influential All Progressive Congress (APC) women leader in Edo State, Josephine Iyamu, has been sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in the United Kingdom for using black magic to lure vulnerable women into prostitution to Germany.
Iyamu, a trained nurse, whose father is believed to be a popular politician, was hoping to contest in the forthcoming elections.
She was previously convicted for 14 years in July but had the sentence increased after Solicitor General Robert Buckland went to the Court of Appeal on Thursday to challenge the jail term.
As she tearfully watched the proceedings via video link from prison, Mr Buckland urged three judges to find that the sentence imposed at Birmingham Crown Court was “far too low” and should be increased.
After a hearing in London, Lord Justice Davis, Mrs Justice Simler and Mr Justice Dove ruled that the total sentence imposed on Iyamu, now 52, was “unduly lenient” and upped it to 18 years.
Announcing the court’s decision, Lord Justice Davis warned that others found guilty of such “grave” offences could expect severe sentences.
Liberia-born Iyamu, who was made a British citizen in 2009 having been allowed to stay in the UK due to her nursing qualifications, organised the travel of five women from Nigeria to Germany.
Iyamu, formerly of Wilson Grove, Bermondsey, south London, is the first person to be prosecuted in the UK for arranging or facilitating travel for sexual exploitation of victims with no connection to Britain.
She was found guilty at the end of a 10-week trial of five offences under the Modern Slavery Act, and also a count of perverting the course of justice while on remand.
She was originally sentenced to a total of 13 years for the trafficking offences with a further year for perverting the course of justice.
The judge said she would have been fully aware of the dangers involved in a four-week land journey across the Sahara to Tripoli in Libya, followed by a sea voyage on inflatable boats.
The court heard during the trial that Iyamu made her victims swear oaths to hand over money during “juju” ceremonies which saw them ordered to eat chicken hearts, drink blood containing worms, and endure powder being rubbed into cuts caused by a razor.
The prosecution said it was clear that Iyamu, known as “Madam Sandra”, had travelled extensively across Europe and into Africa on a regular basis to meet victims.
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