Human trafficking trial: Woman and sister 'sold to two men'

The High Court in Glasgow heard that the woman and her sister were sold to two Pakistani men

A woman has told a trafficking trial that she was sold to a man after being brought to Scotland from Slovakia.

The 25-year-old said she and her sister were taken to Glasgow by a woman called Helena Cicova to work.

The witness told the High Court in Glasgow that they were later sold to two Pakistani men.

Vojtech Gombar, 61, Anil Wagle, 37, Jana Sandorova, 28, and Ratislav Adam, 31, all deny trafficking women into Scotland for prostitution and slavery.

The witness said her sister was later taken to Ireland where she married one of the Pakistani men.

She told the court she contacted her sister and a man, Vojtech Gambor, took her to Ireland to stay with her.

The witness said she never married as the man she had been sold to was not allowed to get into Ireland.

Prosecutor Kath Harper asked the woman: "At the end of 2011 when you were at home in Trebisov with your sister, did something happen?"

Potato factory

She replied: "When Helena arrived she came to my family and told us she would like to take us to work."

She said Ms Cicova said the jobs would be in a restaurant and also talked about a potato factory.

Ms Harper said: "When Helena made the offer, did you want to go to Glasgow?"

The woman said: "No, but my older sister said when I finish school there will be no work. If there was work we should go, if not we should come back."

She said Ms Cicova paid for the journey from Trebisov to Bratislava airport.

The witness told how she did not take any belongings as Ms Cicova said they would not be away for a long time and she would buy them dresses if needed.

She later discovered there was no work for them in Glasgow and she ended up sleeping in the corridor of Ms Cicova's flat for two or three months.

She said Ms Cicova had a cousin in Glasgow called Voytech Gombar - whom she knew as Vojto - and she and her sister would go to his flat quite often.

'He was forbidden'

The witness said she and her sister were later sold.

Ms Harper asked: "Who sold you?"

She replied "Helena, but I was told by her cousin Vojto."

Ms Harper asked "Who did she sell you to?" The witness said: "I was sold to another person in London. He could not travel to Ireland because he was forbidden."

Ms Harper asked "How much did they pay?"

She replied "I don't know, she never showed us."

The trial continues.