Alleged victim helped friend into prostitution
An Ottawa court heard from the alleged victim of human trafficking that she helped another friend get into prostitution after she was rescued by police.
The teenage girl, who cannot be named because there is a publication ban on her identity, is the main witness in the trial of Jamie Byron.
Byron is facing several charges, including living off the avails of juvenile prostitution, assault, keeping a common bawdy house and attempting to flee police. He has pleaded not guilty.
Byron was arrested after Detective Shane Henderson, operating on a tip, rescued the alleged victim from an Ottawa hotel in 2011.
The girl was 17 years old during the two month period she was allegedly forced into prostitution, was cross-examined on Friday.
She testified she was forced to have sex with up to eleven men a day in Ottawa, Toronto, Barrie and Montreal.
Friday's cross-examination included some tense exchanges between the defence lawyer Francois Dulude and the witness who often seemed agitated.
The girl admitted she helped another teenager establish herself in the prostitution business by giving her sexually suggestive photos and a cell phone for taking calls from customers.
The photos were of the alleged victim and did not show her face.
Asked why she would give the photos to a friend, she said "because we have the same body."
"I told her she could use my pictures. I told her she could use my phone. That's what she did," she said.
"You are giving someone else pictures and a phone to help prostitute herself," said Dulude.
"I'm the sort of person that if someone wants to do something they can do whatever they want to do," the teenager replied.
The trial is expected to last at least another week.
