Tiger Creek shopkeeper Ann Marie Carter yesterday faced a new human trafficking charge stemming from the alleged inducing of another woman into prostitution.
Carter, of 84 First Avenue, Bartica, who was charged in June with forcing two girls into prostitution in the Tiger Creek Backdam, in Region Seven, pleaded not guilty to the new charge read against her yesterday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. She was also accused of unlawful assault.
The trafficking charge stated that between March 14 and April 1, 2013, at Tiger Creek, Puruni, Carter recruited the young woman for the purpose of engaging in human trafficking.
A second charge stated that during the same time period, at Puruni Backdam, she unlawfully assaulted another woman, causing actual bodily harm.
Attorney Haymant Ramdhani made an application for reasonable bail to be granted to Carter, the mother of an eight-year-old girl.
But Prosecutor Seon Blackman objected to bail based on the seriousness and nature of the offences. He also pointed out that Carter is also before the Bartica Magistrate’s Court on a human trafficking charge.
As a result, Magistrate Fabayo Azore granted bail in the sum of $50,000 for the assault charge but remanded Carter to prison on the human trafficking charge. She will return to court on September 18 at Court One for another hearing.
In June, Carter was refused bail by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on charges that she harboured two girls for the purpose of trafficking for sexual exploitation between March 28 and April 22, 2013, at Tiger Creek, Puruni.
Carter’s arrest stemmed from the rescue of four girls, ages 14, 15, 17 and 18, who were extracted from the Tiger Creek area by members of the Guyana Women Miners Organisa-tion (GWMO). The case was subsequently transferred to the Bartica Magistrate’s Court.
Carter was the second person to be charged as a result of the rescue, after charges were laid against Police Corporal Huford David in April for taking the 14-year-old girl into Region Seven to be a sex worker.
David, 36, of Sisters Village, East Bank Berbice, pleaded not guilty to the charge, which stated that between January 1 and January 31, 2013, at Kumakuma Creek, Mazaruni River, he kept the girl for the purpose of exploitation.
At David’s arraignment, the court heard that he allegedly took the girl to Kumakuma Creek, and informed her that she would collect gold and money and give it to the shopkeeper, who was identified as ‘Rankin.’
The court was told that as a result of nine sexual encounters, the girl accumulated gold and which she later gave to the shopkeeper. A few days later, the girl insisted on having her gold and money but the shopkeeper told her that he did not have it, while David told her that he did not have either.
The girl later escaped and made a report to the GWMO, following which investigations were launched into the matter and David was located, arrested and charged. David was remanded to prison.
