Insincere overseas employment lands two in Dar court

TWO people, Fatma Frank Athuman and Juma Mohamed Hamad, appeared before the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday charged with enticement of six Tanzanian girls for overseas employment in Dubai, discovered to be prostitution and sexual exploitation.

Fatma (24), a resident of Kariakoo and Hamad (42), who resides at Bububu in Zanzibar, pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were brought before Principal Resident Magistrate, Kwey Rusema.

They were remanded until February 4, when the case will be mentioned. An officer from Immigration Department, Mr Method Kagoma, who is prosecuting the case, informed the court that investigations into the matter had not been completed yet.

It is alleged that the accused persons committed the offences between December 1st and 31st, last year at Msimbazi Kariakoo area within Ilala District in the city.

The prosecution told the court that within the period, the accused persons transported, received and harboured the girls from different parts within the United Republic of Tanzania under pretext of overseas employment in Dubai, for the purposes of prostitution and sexual exploitation.

.It was alleged that the girls (names withheld) came from different places, notably Buza and Chamazi in Dar es Salaam, Kigoma, Tanga and Mbeya Regions.

The two were also charged with three counts of forging documents and causing some of the girls to make false statement. The prosecution alleged that between February 1st and 22nd , last year, at unspecified place within the country, with intent to receive, the two accused persons forged certificate of birth in respect of one of the girls, purporting to show that it was genuinely issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths.

According to the prosecution, within the same period, the accused persons forged a certificate of registration for Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), in respect of one of the girls, purportedly showing it was genuinely issued by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), while it was not true.

The prosecution further told the court that within the same period in the city, with intent to defraud, the accused persons forged a business license in the name of one of the girls, purporting to show that it was issued by the Director of Ilala Municipal Council, while it was false. Fatma was charged with a separate count of causing to make a false statement.

The court heard that on February 22, last year, at the Office of Immigration Head Quarters in Temeke District, she caused four girls to make false statement regarding their personal particulars, while applying for Tanzanian passport.