In smuggling case, 'victims' defend the accused
Posted by jryan May 10, 2008 21:00PM
Last September, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested two men and a woman from Togo who they said smuggled 14 girls and young women from West Africa, forced them to work without pay at hair-braiding salons in Newark and East Orange, and kept them in line with threats and beatings.

It was, one agent said, a case of modern-day slavery.

Now, four of the alleged victims say they weren't exploited at all.

Rather, they described the three people charged in the case, Lassissi Afolabi, 44, Akouavi Kpade Afolabi, 39, and Dereck Hounakey, 30, as benevolent parent figures who rescued them from misery in their African village, where drinking water was hauled from a stream each day and their parents struggled to feed their families.

They say they long to return to the hair salons -- even if they weren't paid for their long hours performing intricate hair weaves. And worse, they say, their parents in Africa are blaming them for the downfall of the three jailed suspects, who had been sending money to the workers' families before the salons were shut.

When she calls home, says one 21-year old woman, her parents blame her for disappointing the village, then they hang up on her.

"I can't take it any more," said the woman, who, like all of those interviewed requested her name be withheld because she is a witness in an active criminal investigation.

"Before, we were happy," she added, shaking and visibly nervous as she spoke. "Now we are not happy. My life is going to hell."

Prosecutors and social workers cast doubt on the women's statements, noting such victims remain vulnerable long after they are pulled from abusive situations. They also fear the women may have been coerced to protect the suspects, or have developed a psychological attachment to them.

Nonetheless, no one involved in human trafficking can recall a case, in New Jersey or elsewhere, in which victims have launched such a defense of their alleged abusers.

Their account shines a rare light into the complex world investigators and prosecutors navigate battling human trafficking -- where toughened U.S. laws and hard evidence often collide with complex victim pathologies and conflicting cultural and economic norms.

"This is not an unusual case, although it's complicated, and it's heart-wrenching for these girls," said Andrea Bertone, executive director of Humantrafficking.org, an anti-trafficking organization in Washington, D.C.

"They don't think of themselves as victims, but our law defines them as such," she said. "It makes it difficult for prosecutors emotionally, but our laws are very clear: You can't bring them here to work and keep them in these conditions."

CONFLICTING STORIES

The four who spoke to The Star-Ledger represent a fraction of the 14 former hair salon workers now classified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as human-trafficking victims.

They told their stories in a pair of interviews arranged by Akl Afolabi, son of the two suspects. Akl Afolabi was not present for the first interview but was in the room during the second, held at the Linden office of attorney John Brucki, who is representing the Afolabis.

The three suspects are charged with harboring illegal aliens for financial gain, a crime that carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. Kpade Afolabi, known by the women as "Sister," also is charged with smuggling, which carries the same sentence.

Prosecutors also are considering charges of human trafficking, or forced labor, which carry even stiffer sentences.

Brucki says the three deny the charges, claiming the workers were paid and entered the country legally. Prosecutors say the workers lied about being related to those who sponsored them for visas. But Brucki said family lines often are blurred in tribal systems.

"This case is not as simple as the government makes it out to be," he said.

The four women would not answer questions about the smuggling charges or how they entered the U.S. But they angrily dispute the public statements and allegations in court papers by federal authorities stating they were beaten and forced to work.

"Nobody forced us to work," said one 21-year-old woman. "My life got better. I eat well, I drink good water, I wear good clothes. These people, they changed our life for the better."

Prosecutors aren't buying it.

At least one other victim has told investigators Lassissi Afolabi would beat the women if they did not return to their apartments after work, asked for money or disobeyed his orders, according to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Newark. Prosecutors say they are prepared to present more evidence at trial.

"Any suggestion that these people were benevolent patrons is absurd and contrary to the information we possess," said Mike Drewniak, spokesman for the Office of the U.S. attorney in Newark.

RIPE FOR EXPLOITATION

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