A CHINESE woman who is claiming she was trafficked into Ireland for the purpose of forced labour, and who is charged with drug offences, was granted bail in the High Court yesterday.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in custody since October 2008, when she was found wandering barefoot in the west of Ireland and was taken to hospital. She was found to be suffering from hypothermia and her feet were badly cut.
She described being forced to work tending plants in a house in a remote location, from which she had escaped. She was charged with cannabis offences and detained.
Her solicitor, Anne Fitzgibbon, said she was first trafficked from China into England and from there to Ireland.
She said she asked the Migrant Rights Centre, which specialises in human trafficking, to interview the woman, and received a report from it on October 28th, 2009, which was sent directly to the superintendent of the Garda National Immigration Bureau, who is charged under the legislation with deciding whether there are reasonable grounds that a person has been trafficked into Ireland. No decision on her status has been made yet by the GNIB.
Mr Justice Daniel Herbert said he was very concerned about the trafficking issue, and took such allegations most seriously. He said he did not think it was being investigated with any great speed.
He granted bail on condition of a bond from the woman of €100, an independent surety of €3,000, that she reside at an address which was handed in to the court and had been accepted by the Garda, that she sign on at a local Garda station, that she observe a curfew between 11pm and 7am and that she not apply for travel documents.