A retrial has been ordered for a Jamaican couple accused of human trafficking including of a 16-year-old Guyanese girl; their daughter who faced similar charges has been freed by a court in Kingston, Jamaica.
The Jamaica Gleaner reported yesterday that Justice Jennifer Straw ordered the retrial in the Home Circuit Court after the seven-member jury returned a divided verdict for the couple. Kingston businesswoman, Hermalinda Parker, and her husband, Anthony, are accused of human trafficking. Parker’s daughter, Lynn Scantlebury, was freed following a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
The Gleaner reported that after seven weeks of trial, the jury deliberated for more than five hours before returning a split decision for the couple. The couple was ordered remanded and will return to court on May 6 when a bail application will be heard.
It is being alleged that young girls were recruited from abroad and forced to work at a nightclub operated by the businesswoman. Hermalinda is the former owner of the Latin Movement Nightclub at the Dunrobin Plaza in St Andrew.
The newspaper had previously reported that Hermalinda was held on September 1 last year shortly after she returned to Jamaica from The Bahamas. The Crown is alleging that young girls were recruited from abroad and forced to work at her nightclub.
It is further alleged that in one case a 16-year-old minor was recruited from Guyana under the guise that she was spending the summer vacation in Jamaica. “She was forced to work at the club doing dancing and sexual acts after Parker allegedly told her that she had to work to pay for her living expenses and plane ticket. Two women saw the girl looking very distraught and took her to a police station where a report was made,” the Gleaner reported.
It said that the report resulted in a sting operation being set up at the club where a number of people were arrested.
The Parkers were subsequently charged.
