Bar owner jailed for 15 years for human trafficking

…to pay victims $5M in compensation

The owner of Liquid Love Bar was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan on Wednesday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Savita Persaud was found guilty of the charge of trafficking two Venezuelan women and as an additional consequence, she was also ordered to pay over $2.5 million in compensation to the victims.
The trial was held in-camera and Persaud was represented by Attorney-at-law George Thomas.
The charge stated that between January 31 and March 8, 2019, at Station Street, Kitty, Georgetown, she recruited, transported and harboured two female Venezuelans for sexual exploitation. One of the victims was a minor.
Chief Magistrate McLennan sentenced Persaud to serve 10 years’ imprisonment for trafficking the underage girl and five years for trafficking the adult female.
The sentences will run concurrently. She was ordered to pay $2.3 million to the underage victim and $2.2 million to the other Venezuelan woman.
Persaud was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment and fined $1.1 million.
She was also jailed on two counts of employing a 17-year-old child on a premises that sells intoxicating liquor and confiscating the Venezuelan women’s immigration documents for the purpose of trafficking.