A teenager has told how she was forced into prostitution after her parents died within days of each other.

The Iraqi girl, now 17, was orphaned ten years ago when her father died of a heart attack and her mother died five days later of a terminal illness. The girl was left to fend for herself and her younger siblings.

She said: “My father died and then my mother followed him within days and I found myself responsible for feeding two little brothers and two sisters.

“My older sister was married and couldn’t help us and we were living in an old, rented house in Iraq and our financial situation was so bad until my aunt, who knew a woman in Dubai, asked me to travel to Dubai and work as a dancer at private parties to help support my brothers and sisters.”

The girl’s story unfolded at Dubai Court of First Instance, where two people are facing charges of human trafficking.

The court heard a 34-year-old Iraqi businesswoman arranged a visa for the teenager and brought her to Dubai in 2007.

“I started dancing at private parties with four other girls,” the teenager said. “I was dancing everyday with different people and after a month she took me to a hotel room where I saw a strange man and she told me that I had to have sex with him.”

She added: “At first I refused and she threatened to beat me so I had sex in the hotel. It was my first time, I was a virgin.”

The situation went on for a year, the girl said, adding: “She would beat me using a bar and she locked me in a flat in Sharjah. An Egyptian driver would take me to the customers every day.”

The victim decided to escape and go to the police but the other girls refused to join her as they feared the police would charge them with prostitution, the court heard.

“One day the Egyptian suspect took me to a customer in Bur Dubai. I escaped and asked for help from a family in the building who called the police,” the girl said.

The Iraqi woman has pleaded not guilty to human trafficking, imprisoning the teenager and running a brothel.

The 30-year-old Egyptian driver has been charged with aiding and abetting but failed to show at court.

The case was adjourned to prepare the defence.

ali.shouk@7days.ae