Friday, April 20, 2007
Deena makes Irish Legal History
Deena Edridge is the first woman to go to jail for organising prostitution. It is amazing, given the numbers of women who are jailed in the UK and USA, for the same crime.
She also pleaded guilty to organising prostitution and controlling the activities of more than one prostitute for that purpose between the same dates.
The 28-year-old former prostitute was paid a salary of €50,000 to act as a "manager", greeting customers, lining up the girls to allow customers to choose one, handling finances and managing an off-site "call centre".
Judge Katherine Delahunt told Edridge: "You are in many ways a victim and fell into an illegal trade because of abandonment by your father."
She noted however that Edridge was a "major player who had a significant and trusted role in running the business" and imposed two twelve month sentences, to run concurrently.
Det. Sgt Holohan said the business was advertised through web sites and magazines under the guise of 17 different escort agencies.
Customers rang the mobile phone number in the advertisement and were directed to the brothel. All the mobiles were "prepay" or "ready to go" numbers across all networks which could not be traced.
These records allowed gardaí to quantify the brothel’s turnover. He estimated that takings over the four shifts prior to the garda search had been €22,000 and the annual takings were thought to be about €4m.
Det Sgt Holohan said that 35 mobile phones had been found during a search of another premises at Beresford House in the IFSC which operated as a "call centre" for Bachelor’s Walk. He said 32 of these were switched on and being answered by two women employed as "receptionists", directing customers to the brothel.
Det. Sgt Holohan described the prostitution industry as "extremely reliant on mobile phones" and said within two days 14 numbers used by the seized phones were back up and running.
Ms Marie Torrens BL, defending Edridge, said that her client was originally from the UK and had come to Ireland five years ago. She said her client had suffered greatly as a child as a result of her parents’ divorce.
She said both parents had subsequently remarried and Edridge’s father "threw money" at her, allowing her to "live a high life style" until she was 18 and at which point the financial aid ceased, leaving her with a number of credit card debts.
She attempted to take out a loan but got into debt again and answered an advertisement in a newspaper to work as a prostitute.
Ms Torrens said Edridge had been robbed and had a number of frightening experiences working as a prostitute. She was initially employed to answer the phones for the business but took full responsibility for the offences with which she was charged.
Quotes from Manager of Brothel turning over 4 Million Euros per year is jailed by the Evening Echo Ireland.
She was a former prostitute herself. Some women in the industry go on to run agencies or brothels when they retire, it seems to be the next step.
Have a good weekend!
Labels: Brothels, Evening Echo, News, Prostitutes
