A 23-year-old woman has been saved from a life of sexual slavery in Messina [Sicily] because she managed to raise the alarm on the social networking site Facebook. The details, as reported by the online Messina newspaper “Tempo Stretto”, are as follows:
When she was 20, the woman met a 55-year-old man known as T.O. This man threatened her and forced her into prostitution, taking €30 - 50 from her after each sexual encounter she had with clients. After a while the young woman met a 41-year-old man, known as S.A, who reportedly fell in love with her but was married with three children. When he discovered that she was working as a prostitute, he began mistreating her and took the remaining €20 that she kept after each sexual encounter. The young woman also endured violence at the hands of her clients.
When her landlord threw her out of the house where she was living, S.A introduced her to another man, a 58-year-old known as I.D.
This man offered her a room in his house and this time, the young woman thought she had met someone who would help her. However, she soon found herself a prisoner in the house. While her captor was out she managed to create a profile on Facebook and told a female Facebook contact about her situation. The contact, in turn, alerted a Facebook friend of her own, a policeman from Palermo who alerted colleagues in Messina.
The three men have been arrested.
