By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
PROSECUTORS brought additional charges on Thursday against a man and woman who were last week accused of conspiring to sexually exploit two teenage girls through human trafficking.
On March 22, Jamalaya Roberts, 40, and Shamika Rolle, 28, stood before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt, each faced with two counts of conspiracy to engage in human trafficking and transporting a person for the purpose of exploiting their prostitution.
Rolle was further charged with two additional counts of exploiting prostitution.
When they returned to court on Thursday for their bail hearing, the Department of Public Prosecutions brought additional charges against them.
This time, the Crown also accused Rolle of creating nude video recordings of the two 16-year-old girls on one of their mobile devices while at the Smith’s Motel and distributing nude video images of the minors onto the internet sometime between February 28 and March 4.
Both accused were further charged with intentionally and unlawfully possessing the nude video images of the teenagers within that same timeframe.
During Roberts’ and Rolle’s first court appearance, the prosecution said the pair conspired to engage in the trafficking of the 16-year-olds.
The accused are also charged with conspiring to engage in the transportation of the teens in the country “for the purpose of prostitution”. At the time, Rolle was also accused of transporting the young girls for the “purpose of their exploitation”.
On Thursday, Rolle denied two counts each of production of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography, while both accused denied two counts of possession of child pornography.
The pair also maintained their not guilty pleas for the previous set of charges.
During the bail hearing, a representative from the Director of Public Prosecutions objected to the release of the accused before their trial due to the serious nature of the offences. He also asked the magistrate to consider the fact that the “alleged victims were minors” and also urged her to “take into account” the safety of society in general.
After listening to arguments from the Crown, Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt adjourned the case to April 6 for a response from the defence lawyers of the two accused.
Both Roberts and Rolle were remanded into custody until that time.
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