The Brantford-born victim of an alleged sex-trafficking scheme tested throughout the day in Cayuga court Monday and is expected to be on the stand for much of the week.
The woman, now 20, looked very young in a dark gray hoodie and gave testimony calmly about the fall of 2018 when court was told she was driven to various Southern Ontario hotels while a group of Caledonia residents arranged drugs, ads for sexual services and appointments with men.
“The clients were basically all day, every day,” said the woman, who can’t be identified due to a publication ban.
“I was getting five or six hours of sleep. The first week I ate every other day but, as it went on, I got less and less food.”
Four Caledonia residents are facing charges of trafficking and controlling the young woman while benefiting from her sex work. They are: Daniel Campbell, 36, Joshua Hillock, 32, Dragisa Lucic, 30, and Crystal-Anne Marier, 36, all who have pleaded not guilty of multiple charges and all who are said to be from Caledonia. Charges against a fifth person, Carly Creor, 27, have been severed from the rest and she will face a separate trial for human trafficking.
The victim tested that a group of five people made all arrangements for her to have sex with a parade of men, mainly in hotel rooms but sometimes in the cars and homes of the men.
The woman was advertised as “small and sweet, very petite” and available for in-calls and out-calls.
“I was terrified about the car calls,” said the woman. “I told Carly a few times I was scared and she was like ‘Oh well’.”
The woman also said she informed the group she would not perform certain sexual acts but they chided her for not wanting the extra money such acts would bring and continued to send men who expected those acts.
The group carefully watched the then-18 year-old, checking with her constantly through texts and visits where they would pick up all the money she had collected, she tested.
The woman thought she was in a relationship with Campbell, who was 34 at the time, and he assured her he was putting aside her money and planned to take her to open a bank account.
Members of the group brought the young woman drugs, which she didn’t pay for. The victim said she wasn’t allowed to sleep when she wanted and sometimes those watching over her would “come and start screaming” at her to wake up.
“I had to be working. They looked really mean. They look like they were going to attack me. I got up and apologized,” she said.
The woman said Campbell, who told her to call him “Daddy”, put some sort of app on her phone that would sometimes lock her out so she couldn’t even enter her password or use the phone.
“I would have to ask Dan and literally beg him to unlock my phone and if I would apologize or start listening, he would let me back in,” she said.
Respite was given when the victim was menstruating.
She told the court she stayed with Hillock and her mother for a few days and, at one point, she was taken to stay at the group’s large new home in Caledonia but they insisted on blindfolding her for the drive there so she wouldn’t be able to identify the area.
Crown lawyer Susan Orlando, from Ontario’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Team, asked her about what she saw there and the woman said she had seen drugs and guns but also had to “hide” at the house when she was there because Marier was angry with her due to her relationship with Campbell.
The trial continues Tuesday.
@EXPSGamble