The club owner, Irene Gooding, 60, of Lot 169 Lamaha Street, Newtown, Kitty, pleaded not guilty to the charge of trafficking in persons when she appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. She denied that between February 1 and 18, at her Kitty residence, she harboured a 13-year-old girl by abusing the girl’s position of vulnerability for the purpose of exploiting her. Gooding’s lawyer, Michael Somersault, in his bid to secure bail for her, stated that she never harboured the teenager for the purpose of exploiting her. He said that the teen went to his client in search of employment but Gooding was suspicious about her age.
He said during the time police alleged that she had harboured the teen, Gooding was trying to verify the girl’s age.
Somersault stated that his client is a businesswoman and as such would not pose a risk of flight.
However, the prosecution objected to Gooding’s bail application on the grounds that the teen was taken from Gooding’s home, charged for wandering and placed in the custody of her grandmother in Mahaica, from whose custody she had initially escaped from.
Reports are that on March 18, the police were on mobile patrol on Lamaha Street, when they observed the teen. When asked what she was doing there, she told them that she was visiting a friend.
When she couldn’t give a satisfactory explanation to the police, she was arrested and during investigations the police discovered that she had ran away from her home. Further investigations revealed that the teen was prostituting and Gooding, who was aware of this, was collecting the money on her behalf. Gooding was later arrested.
The matter was transferred to Court Three, where the case will be called on May 11.
