Sentenced for trafficking children under 16 years old to force them to work as karaoke hostesses
The group of defendants took advantage of the victims’ young age to lure, threaten and force them to work as karaoke bar waitresses for illegal profit. The victims were forced to work against their will, and if they refused to work, they were threatened, beaten and sold to others as prostitutes.
On November 22, Can Tho City People's Court opened a trial for four defendants on charges of trafficking in persons under 16 years old and illegal detention.
Defendants Pham Hoang Em (born in 1988, residing in Chau Thanh district, Tien Giang province), Tran Van Phat (born in 1986, residing in Vinh Thanh district, Can Tho city) were both prosecuted for the above two crimes. Defendant Doan Van Cuoi (born in 1990, residing in Vinh Thanh district, Can Tho city) was prosecuted for the crime of trafficking in persons under 16 years old and Le Nhat Hai (born in 2000, residing in Kien Luong district, Kien Giang province) for the crime of illegal detention.
According to the indictment, Cuoi ran a karaoke bar in Vinh Thanh district. At the end of 2021, Hoang Em met Cuoi and introduced himself as managing about 10 female waitresses. The two agreed that Cuoi would collect money from customers who came to eat and sing. Hoang Em would collect money from customers for the waitresses (tips).
Hoang Em rented a house near the karaoke bar to house the female attendants and hired Hai and others to manage it. Hai was responsible for managing their travel, food and accommodation and preventing them from running away. Hoang Em used his Facebook account to post ads to recruit more people. If any employee applying for the job had debts, Hoang Em would pay them back and force them to sign a debt acknowledgment.
On December 6, 2022, Hoang Em was prosecuted and temporarily detained by the Investigation Police Agency of District 12 Police (Ho Chi Minh City) for human trafficking and trafficking of people under 16 years old in another case. In January 2023, Phat and Hoang Em's wife went to the karaoke bar and asked Cuoi to hand over the female attendants. Cuoi agreed to transfer the people, Phat had to pay the debt on behalf of the attendants who still owed money.
Phat agreed and gave Cuoi 110 million VND. Phat continued to hire Hai to manage the above-mentioned flight attendants, confiscating their phones and preventing them from contacting home. Hai also used electric batons as a tool to threaten the flight attendants, forcing them to serve customers continuously and collecting all their tips. On March 7, 2023, the two flight attendants took advantage of the manager's negligence to escape and reported to the police.
Through investigation, it was determined that Phat, Hoang Em and Cuoi took advantage of the fact that BTMT, NTNL and CKO were under 16 years old to lure them into buying and forcing the victims to work as karaoke bar waitresses.
The victims were forced to work against their will. If they refused to work, they were threatened, beaten, and sold to others for prostitution. Hoang Em and Phat assigned Hai to directly manage, guard, and lock up the victims, not allowing them to go out, and to manage their food, accommodation, and travel.
Based on the nature and severity of each defendant’s crime, the panel sentenced Phat and Hoang Em to 12 years and 6 months in prison each for trafficking in persons under 16 years old and 2 years and 6 months in prison for illegal detention. The total sentence each defendant must serve is 15 years in prison. Cuoi was sentenced to 12 years in prison for trafficking in persons under 16 years old and Hai to 2 years in prison for illegal detention.
