A Romanian woman told a court today how her former boyfriend forced her into prostitution and then beat her up when she refused to carry on, as she testified in the case against him. She said that once he almost pulled out her hair.

Testifying by video conference, Mariaca Daresco, said that Alexandru Onofrei, 26, also from Romania was a dangerous man and she wouldn’t dare cross him and that was why she had never reported it to the police.

She said she only spoke to the police on Sunday because she was drunk.

Mr Onofrei is pleading not guilty to trafficking Ms Daresco and others, forcing her and her friend Pilaf Anisoara into prostitution, holding them against their will, living off the earnings of prostitution and running a brothel in San Ġwann.

Ms Daresco said she would entertain clients and go out to dinner with them before having sex and she would charge €300 for half an hour of intimacy. She said that the fee would also cover dinner which would last an hour-and-a-half.
The money was kept by the accused.

She said that it had all started when the accused told her he needed money and forced her to take a revealing photo of herself. Without her knowledge, he uploaded the photo to a website advertising escort services which he later showed her and said that from then on she could not take any decisions.

She was given a mobile phone and told to reply to clients who would get the number from the website. She could not refuse the accused as he was a very dangerous man and she feared a reprisal attack when he was out of prison.

Magistrate Ian Farrugia turned down a request for bail for fear that he might leave the island.