A 63-year-old Trinidadian police officer will return to the Trinidad and Tobago High Court in March for sentencing after he was found guilty on human trafficking charges.
The policeman, Valentine Eastman, had been charged in 2013 on grounds that between March 3 and 25, of that year, he harboured Colombian women at Princes Town in south central Trinidad for the purpose of exploitation, in the form of prostitution.
Eastman and a co-accused had gone on trial in November 2024 before Justice George Busby. Eastman was found guilty on two of these charges but was acquitted on a charge of rape.
Fourteen witnesses, including two of the women, testified during Eastman’s trial before Justice Busby and Eastman was remanded in custody.
Eastman’s co-accused, who faced six counts of transporting persons for exploitation under the twin island republic’s Trafficking in Persons Act, was acquitted on January 13, after the state discontinued its case against him.
The man was charged in April 2013 based on allegations from three Colombian women who claimed they were trafficked into Trinidad for prostitution.
The prosecution alleged that he transported the women from their apartment to the Santa Maria Hotel in Chaguanas in Central Trinidad, where they worked as prostitutes, and to the Hawaii Hotel in San Fernando.
The women refused to testify in person or virtually at the trial of the co-accused and the state sought to admit prior statements and evidence recorded in the magistrate court, but the defence team for the co-accused contested the application.
The court ultimately rejected the prosecution’s application. Eastman will return to court for sentencing on March 28. (CMC)
