Human trafficking and prostitution trial hears woman was pictured with man in Cashel

Two women have gone on trial accused of trafficking two Brazilian women, who were allegedly moved between rural towns - including Thurles and Cashel - and required to work as prostitutes.

On the first day of the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial, Garnet Orange SC, prosecuting, said the trial would “give an insight to a side of the country many of us weren't aware of”.

The trial is expected to run for six weeks.

Natalia Nogueira Da Silva, 32, of Cairn Hill View, Drumlish, county Longford, pleaded not guilty to one count of human trafficking a woman at an unknown location within the State on dates between March 31, 2019 and May 18, 2019.

She pleaded guilty in front of the jury to one count of organising prostitution at an unknown location within the State on dates between December 5, 2018 and May 18, 2019.

She also admitted one count of facilitating the entry into the State of a person she knew to be illegal on March 31, 2019 at Dublin Airport, along with 33 counts of money laundering the proceeds of crime on dates between March 2020 and May 2021.

Ms Da Silva’s co-accused, Ivanilce (Lisa) Vailones Fidelis, 46, pleaded not guilty to all 18 counts against her.

Ms Vailones Fidelis, of Castle Manor, Racecourse Road, Roscommon, denied two counts of human trafficking two women at various locations within the State on dates between December 2018 and May 2019.

She pleaded not guilty to one count of organising prostitution during the same time period.

Ms Fidelis further pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of money laundering the proceeds of crime on dates between January 2015 and December 2020 and one count of removing proceeds of crime from the State during the same time period. 

The State alleges the two accused women trafficked two vulnerable Brazilian women for the purposes of exploiting those women and taking advantage of their vulnerability “to such an extent as to cause the trafficked person to have no real or acceptable alternative but to submit to being trafficked”.

On day four of the trial, a book of photographs was shown to the jury, which the court heard were taken from one of the women's Instagram account.

In a post, dated May 2019, the court heard the complainant was photographed in Cashel with a man.

The woman told Padraig Dwyer, SC, defending Ms Fidelis, that she met the man through Tinder and they went to a nightclub in Roscommon before spending two nights together one weekend.

She said he was a “kind, gentle person”.

She agreed she told him she was an escort and that he had no problem with that.

She agreed she arranged a transfer for him to visit her in Cashel, which, she said, cost her €100.

The woman denied assertions by the defence that she told this man that she worked as an escort in Brazil, that she was “well-known in Brazil and had regular clients”, and that she came to Ireland to earn more money.

“When I met him, he was a nice person, but if he mentioned these things you just mentioned, he is lying,” the woman said. “This conversation never happened.”

When asked why she never mentioned this man in her statement to gardaí, which runs for 100 pages, the woman said she didn’t know she had to mention every person she met in Ireland.

She said she did complain to the man about being assaulted.

“I told him I was suffering,” she said.

The trial continues before Judge Patricia Ryan and a jury.