Odosa Usiobaifo jailed for 14 years for trafficking teenagers from the UK to use as prostitutes across Europe

 Man jailed for 14 years for trafficking teenagers from the UK to use as prostitutes across Europe

• Odosa Usiobaifo, 35, admitted conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration

• Had collected two Nigerian girls to be placed on a flight from UK to Spain

• The girls, 14 and 15, had been in local authority care in London

Jailed: Odosa Usiobaifo, 35, from Enfield, was found guilty of conspiring to traffick young girls for the purposes of sexual exploitation


A man has been jailed for 14 years for his role in the 'horrific' ordeal of two teenage girls being trafficked via London to work as prostitutes in mainland Europe.
A court heard Odosa Usiobaifo, 35, from Enfield, north London, was involved in a 'significant' organised crime gang trafficking young women for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
Usiobaifo was arrested after two Nigerian girls missing from local authority care in London were given false passports and tickets and placed on a flight to Spain.
The 35-year-old, who had collected the girls from a pre-arranged meeting point before they were given the false documents and put on the flight, was found guilty of conspiring to traffick for the purposes of sexual exploitation following a four-week trial at Isleworth Crown Court.
He had pleaded guilty to conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration earlier in the trial.
The court heard the girls, aged 14 and 15 at the time, had previously been stopped by Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport separately on September 17 and November 23 2011. Both were using false passports which indicated they were adults.
They had arrived on flights from Lagos, Nigeria, and were attempting to travel on to Paris, the trial heard.

During interviews with the Serious Organised Crime Agency's Vulnerable Persons Team it became clear that the pair were being trafficked to mainland Europe, via London, for the purposes of sexual exploitation.







'Organised crime group': Usiobaifo's arrest followed an investigation by Sussex Police, the UK Border Agency, Border Force and the Serious Organised Crime Agency They were placed in local authority care but on 6 April 2012 were reported missing to Sussex Police by their respective foster carers.
Investigations revealed that contact had been made with the girls and Usiobaifo had collected them from a pre-arranged meeting point before they were given false passports and tickets and placed on a flight to Spain.
One of the girls was refused entry to Spain and returned to the UK, where she remains in the care of the UK authorities. The other passed through Spanish border controls and is still missing.

'Abhorrent': The two Nigerian girls are circled in red outside Heathrow Airport in this photograph

'Horrific ordeal': Isleworth Crown Court heard the two Nigerian girls, seen at Heathrow Airport, were being trafficked via London to mainland Europe

Missing: One of the girls was refused entry to Spain and returned to the care of authorities in UK, the other is still missing
Usiobaifo was arrested at his flat in Enfield on 3 September 2012 alongside his partner Katie Igha, 25.
Last Thursday a jury found Usiobaifo guilty of all charges but acquitted Igha of trafficking. They failed to reach a verdict on a charge of conspiring to facilitate against Igha.




Investigation: Odosa Usiobaifo is seen walking through Heathrow Airport in this image

Senior investigating officer Jonathan Bush, from the UK Border Agency's Criminal and Financial Investigation team, said: 'We believe our investigation has disrupted a significant organised crime group suspected of being involved in the trafficking of young women into Europe through London.


'The ordeal these girls went through was horrific and tragically one of them remains missing.


'Working with Border Force, the police and SOCA we are determined to do all we can to stop the abhorrent crime of trafficking.'


Chief Inspector Jo Banks, who led the Sussex Police investigation into the girls' disappearance, said: 'This was a joint investigation with the UK Border Agency that led to the identification of Usiobaifo, and after a complex investigation showed his involvement in an organised crime group with the aim of trafficking young women for sexual exploitation.

'The two girls went through a turbulent ordeal, clearly aware of what was intended for them, and under the control of the traffickers. We will continue to search for girl who remains missing.'


A joint UK Border Agency and Border Force investigation, codenamed Operation Hudson, has involved law enforcement agencies in Britain and abroad. It is targeting a number of organised crime groups suspected of trafficking young women, via London, for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

dailymail.co.uk

Talking African Dolls Challenge Racial Stereotypes...Meet The Rooti Dolls

Meet the Rooti dolls! Talking African figures wearing colourful clothes challenge racial stereotypes by breaking the Barbie mould

• Dolls created by Chris and Ada Ngoforo who felt their children did not know enough about their roots
• The couple have now made 12 dolls from different African countries
• Each doll can speak a range of different African languages

A range of dolls have been created to help children of African origin to stay in touch with their heritage.

The dolls were created by Chris and Ada Ngoforo, from London, who were concerned their children did not know about their West African roots.

They decided to take matters into their own hands and what started off as project to help their family, has now transformed into a business venture.

Ama (left) is described as a 'bubbling dynamic girl' according to the company's website and speaks the Ghanaian languages of Twi, Ga, Ewe and Krobo while Nubya, (right) whose parents moved to London from Cape Town years before her birth, is programmed to speak Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, and Afrikaans
 

They have launched their own range of toys, called Rooti Dolls, which are programmed to speak in several native African languages.

The couple have now made 12 dolls from different African countries.

Chris Ngoforo told CNN: 'We observed that over 90 per cent of children born or living in the diaspora and millions in Africa do not speak or understand their mother tongues.

'Our research made us understand that the reason for this is not because our children don't want to learn their mother tongues, but more because there are not many essential tools that can easily be both educational and fun at the same time.'

Shiroh (left), of Kenyan and Somali mixed origin can speak Swahili, Kikuyu and Luganda while Keza (right) has parents who originate from Zimbabwe and Zambia can speak Shona, Ndebele, Bemba, and Nyanja, according to the dolls' creators

Rooti Dolls was set up by Chris and Ada Ngoforo who were concerned their children were losing touch with their West African roots
 

Among the dolls is Nina, who can speak Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa and Ibibio and loves to watch 'Nollywood' - popular term for Nigerian movies.

Then there is Ama, who dreams to be a doctor, and can speak the Ghanaian languages of Twi, Ga, Ewe and Krobo.

The couple hope the dolls will breakdown stereotypes and provide a more accurate representation of black people.

Debbie Behan Garrett, author of 'The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls', said: 'Today's black dolls have evolved from negative caricatures to play-scale representations of haute couture fashion models and other positive images of babies, toddlers and adult black people.'

dailymail.co.uk

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is now Pope Francis...First ever non-european pope

 

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who is now Pope Francis. Photograph: Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio Of Buenos Aires, has been elected to be the 266th pope of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Francis.

Francisco appeared on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at Wednesday more than an hour after white smoke was released from the Sistine Chapel chimney at 2:05 EDT (7:05 p.m. CET) to signal that a new pope had been selected. Speaking from the balcony, he gave his first address as pope, the traditional Urbi et Orbi (to the "City and the World"), as crowds waved, cried and cheered for the new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

He prayed for the church, the papacy and for his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

Francis, a Jesuit priest, was elected to the papacy after two days of conclave meetings with a total of five ballots cast. Voting in the conclave, which began Tuesday afternoon, is confidential and cardinals were sworn to secrecy, but Francis received at least 77 votes, which is the minimum two-thirds required to become pope. There were 115 cardinals eligible to vote in the conclave. All were under 80 before Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's retirement, as required by Vatican rules. In 2005, when Benedict was elected, it took two days and four votes to elect him.

Francis, whose papacy is effective immediately, will be formally installed in the coming days. It's unclear when the installation Mass will happen, but Vatican spokesman Fr. Frederico Lombardi said earlier on Wednesday that Tuesday, March 19, the feast of St. Joseph, is a possible date. He spoke before white smoke signalled news of a new pope, and it was unclear if he expected a decision on Wednesday. Lombardi also said in the same interview that the new pope would likely celebrate Mass with cardinals the morning after his election.

The date of a papal installation typically begins with a visit with cardinals to the grottos of St. Peter's Basilica, where the first pope, St. Peter, is said to be buried. There, the new pope is expected to say, "I leave from where the apostle arrived" before a procession to the square and an installation Mass (the Mass lasted two hours for Benedict's installation in 2005).

At the installation Mass, Francis is expected to receive the Fisherman's Ring made for his papacy (the one Benedict wore was given up when he retired on Feb. 28 and purposefully damaged by Vatican authorities per tradition) as well as the pallium, the woolen stole that's a symbol of his authority.


When Benedict was elected, 12 church representatives knelt in front of him at the installation: three cardinals, one bishop, a priest, a deacon, a married couple, a nun and man from a religious order, and two young people who have had their confirmations -- a key sacrament of the faith. A similar group is expected to kneel in front of Francis as a symbolic pledge of obedience.

After the Mass, the new pope customarily is driven around St. Peter's Square to greet groups of priests and laypeople from around the world who have come to see him. In the days after, he is expected to visit the three main Roman basilicas aside from St. Peter's: St. Paul's, St. John Lateran's and St. Mary Major's. The first visit is usually to St. Paul -- outside the Vatican City walls.

For his first few weeks as pope, Francis will live in a temporary apartment away from the official papal residence. Vatican spokesman Lombardi previously showed reporters a video of new pope's short-term home, which has a study, a sitting area and a carving of Jesus Christ's face on the headboard of the bed. Francis will stay there while the official papal apartment is renovated. The apartment was sealed after Benedict's resignation and church rules say it can't be reopened for any reason until there is a new pope.

 

huffingtonpost

White smoke from Sistine Chapel indicates new pope elected

Identity of Benedict XVI’s successor expected to be revealed shortly

White smoke is seen pouring from the roof of the Sistine Chapel indicating that the College of Cardinals have elected a new Pope. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images.


The Catholic church has chosen a new pope.

White smoke is billowing from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, meaning 115 cardinals in a papal conclave have elected a new leader for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

The new pope is expected to appear on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica within an hour, after a church official announces “Habemus Papum” — “We have a pope” — and gives the name of the new pontiff in Latin.

The conclave was called after Pope Benedict XVI resigned last month, throwing the church into turmoil and exposing deep divisions among cardinals tasked with finding a manager to clean up a corrupt Vatican bureaucracy as well as a pastor who can revive Catholicism in a time of growing secularism.

Balloting began yesterday and black smoke had poured from the chimney on three occasions since, indicating no agreement had been reached.

Black smoke signals no pope elected at first conclave vote

Black smoke rises from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City indicating that no decision has been made after the first day of voting for the election of a new pope, March 12, 2013. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

 

 

 

 

The 115 cardinal electors under the age of 80 will vote up to four times day thereafter until one of their number receives a two-thirds majority, or 77 votes.

No conclave has lasted than more than five days in the past century. Pope Benedict was elected within barely 24 hours in 2005 after just four rounds of voting.

 

 

reuters