The Civil Guard has released a woman of Algerian origin who wore held for more than a year in a house in Agost (Alicante) by a married couple of the same nationality who forced her to work tirelessly every day on household chores in that house.
The 48-year-old victim told the agents that “she never left the premises of the house” – a house with a plot and a swimming pool – because she was coerced and that, “although it was not locked, they had her frightened,” according to sources. of the armed institute.
According to a statement from the Civil Guard, she had been deceived by these two compatriots, a marriage of businessmen who has been arrested for an alleged crime of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labor exploitation, which had brought to Spain with the false promise to hire her as a domestic worker, which would allow you to apply for a residence permit in our country.
After regaining her freedom, the woman has been put in contact with a NGO helping victims of trafficking of people and is currently residing in a foster home.
When she was released by the agents, she presented an evident state of malnutrition. In her statements, she stated that, despite having suffered several faints due to lack of food, she had been denied at all times to be treated by a doctor.
She also assured that the food shortage was such that, since she was deprived of her liberty and after her release, she had lost more than 20 kilograms.
The investigation began as a result of the testimony of a citizen, that he went to the Civil Guard to report that a woman had been held against her will for more than a year in a house in the town of Agost.
The Women-Minor team (EMUME) of the Alicante Civil Guard Judicial Police took charge of the investigation and found out that the alleged perpetrators had brought the victim under cheated, taking advantage of his situation of need and precariousness, with the promise of providing him with a work contract for household chores.
Improvised toilet in the garage / Guardia Civil
Once in the country, the couple withdrew her passport and housed her in the garage of the house, in which he lived “in subhuman living conditions,” according to the armed institute.
The two detainees made a bed and improvised a toilet in the garage that it did not have any type of ventilation and where the electrical wiring of the house, uncovered, crossed the room hanging from the ceiling.
On rare occasions, she went outside, always accompanied so that she could not escape.
At one point, the woman got communicate via the Internet with a family member, to whom he explained what was happening. It was this who initiated the necessary steps to ask for help.
The arrested couple, a 50-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, reside temporarily in Spain and during the last year they had remained continuously in our country.
They are charged with a crime of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labor exploitation, a crime of illegal detention and a crime against the rights of foreign citizens. After being brought to justice, they have been probation with charges.
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