5 hours ago
2
SINGAPORE: A court has convicted an Italian man of human trafficking by tricking a Singaporean woman into sex work in Dubai, after rejecting his defence arguments attacking the victim.
Achraf Arjaouy, 31, had claimed trial to one count of recruiting a person by means of deception for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Dubai. The victim's identity is protected by a gag order.
The prosecution's case was that Arjaouy had targeted a woman he met on Tinder, by pretending to be a wealthy pilot from Qatar who wished to marry her.
They argued that Arjaouy told the woman, aged 30 to 31 at the time, to show US$10,000 as proof of funds before she could enter Qatar. He asked her to provide sexual services in Dubai to raise the money, and collected her earnings daily until she contracted a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
While the idea of engaging in sex work revolted the woman, she eventually agreed as she thought it was the only way to marry Arjaouy in Qatar.
The woman stopped engaging in sex work in mid-September 2021 after contracting the STD. She returned to Singapore a few months later.
Her mother had sought Singapore police assistance in April 2021, when the woman first went to Dubai, and Arjaouy was arrested in Singapore in November 2023 for an unrelated offence.
JUDGE'S VERDICT
District Judge Eugene Teo said the two points at the heart of the defence require "emphatic rejection".
First, Arjaouy denied trafficking the woman, saying her evidence was "incredible" because a real victim would surely have behaved differently at various points.
"Objectively, that argument draws its strength from standing on top of a stereotype that real victims can be expected to behave or react in a certain way," said Judge Teo.
"Unfortunately ... both history and experience have shown that the stereotype is thoroughly outdated and unreliable. The fact of the matter is that human beings react in a multitude of ways to any given situation," he said.
Second, Arjaouy said the woman's evidence was incredible as "given her physical appearance", it was simply not believable that she could have successfully worked as a sex worker.
"Putting aside the objectionable nature of that argument for the moment, it is objectively an argument which draws its strength from standing on top of the proposition that only particular physical properties are capable of being attractive," said Judge Teo.
"Unfortunately ... that proposition is also simply not true," he continued. "We do not have to look far for an example. This case shows us that one does not have to be particularly tall, fair in complexion or even have a full head of hair to get by on one's looks."
Arjaouy, who listened to proceedings via an Italian interpreter, is balding.
"The simple fact of the matter is humanity's diversity in taste runs very wide and there is no accounting for it and no universal standard of beauty," said the judge.
He said an objective review of the prosecution's evidence, which rested primarily on the evidence of the woman backed up by incriminating texts, showed that the woman remained "entirely credible".
He said there was more than enough evidence to prove each and every element of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt and convicted Arjaouy.
The judge ordered the prosecution and defence to submit arguments on Arjaouy's sentence.
Defence lawyers Joel Quek and Samuel Teo from WongPartnership clarified that certain arguments made by the offender himself were not arguments made by the counsel.
Arjaouy has been remanded for about five months, after he allegedly assaulted his female bailor.
He will return to court for sentencing in July. He has several other charges pending.
For recruiting a person by deception for sexual exploitation, he could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$100,000 and given up to six strokes of the cane.
