Dublin prostitute's memoir could entice women into the trade, warn experts

Larger Text

Print

E-mail

8 Comments

Memoir of a prostitute "Between the Sheets" by "Scarlet O'Hara"

Photo by Penguin

Tweet

"We found that a large number of young women working in prostitution were from very poor backgrounds and from countries where they could get no work. It is sordid and it is dangerous. I have no idea what experiences this woman had, but the vast majority of women working in this trade in Ireland are young foreign women who are desperate for money," said the detective, who has led an investigation into Dublin's vice trade.

"They are very vulnerable, both from the aspects of pimps and men who can exploit them, and from dangerous customers.

"Our main concern was for the safety of these young women and to ensure that there was a stop to trafficking and exploitation. Many said they were working voluntarily, and that may be the case, but there are dangers inherent in this work.

"Poor Belinda Periera (the 27-year-old Sri Lankan-born prostitute murdered at an apartment in Liffey Street in Dublin in December 1996) was working alone over the Christmas period in Dublin and met an awful death. It was a very sad life and a terrible death.

"She was working alone in an apartment in a city she knew nothing about. She came over for the Christmas week and was due to go back to London on New Year's Day. Her parents were lovely people who knew nothing of what had happened to their daughter when she had gone to England and that she had been dragged into that type of existence."

Another senior garda concurred that while most of the young foreign women who were involved in lap-dancing clubs and prostitution were here voluntarily, there were concerns among them and among gardai for their safety.

"There is no question but that this can be very dangerous work for young women," he said.
 

Print

E-mail

Tweet