A French couple sold their daughter for a used car. She was subjected to sexual and physical abuses for three years that included hiring out for sex to other men, it was reported here Wednesday.
The buyer of the 23-year-old woman used her as a domestic slave, a court heard.
It is alleged that the woman was sold for 600 pounds “part-exchange” for a second-hand car, then subjected to sexual and physical abuse between 2003 and 2006 at a travellers’ camp outside Paris, the Daily Mail reported.
The victim’s parents were among eight men and six women appearing before judges at the court in Melun town in Ile-de-France region charged with human trafficking and acts of rape, barbarism and torture.
The woman, named only as Sabrina, was sold to Franck Franoux, 58, and his partner Florence Carrasco, 56, in return for the car, then made to live chained up in a filthy shed.
She was burned with iron and cigarette ends, made to look after their seven children, beaten with iron bars and sticks and hired out for sex to other men, the report said.
When Sabrina finally fell critically ill, she was dumped outside a Paris hospital, with no teeth left and weighing about 40 kg, the court was told.
“She was in a deplorable physical and psychological state,” a police source told France’s Le Post online newspaper.
“It took her a year to recover from her ordeal and she will bear the physical and mental scars all her life.”
Le Post added: “The girl’s parents handed their daughter over to another couple in part exchange for a used car, with her value being estimated at around 600 pounds.
According to the paper, police said she was treated worse than an animal, with beatings, sexual abuse and scraps of food being tossed on the ground for her to eat.
The defendants face between two and 15 years in prison for the offences. The trial is set to last until December 17.
