THE pimps who allegedly forced a Brazilian prostitute to sell his services in a Letterkenny brothel did so “to satisfy demand from married men from the town”, Donegal Daily has learned.
Jose Filho, who has HIV, was just the latest gay prostitute to be offered to “clients” from a house at 9 Ballymacool Terrace in the town, we can reveal.
He is pictured here outside Glenties District Court yesterday evening after being released. He had pleaded guilty to prostitution charges.
His solicitor Patsy Gallagher today repeated his calls in court yesterday for those who pay for sexual services in brothels to be criminalised. Under present laws those who pay for sex on private property are not breaking the law.
The Brazlian answered the door to raiding Gardai wearing women’s underwear, a wig and make-up.
Donegal Daily can confirm that a ‘client’ who had just had sex with the Filho is a married man from Letterkenny.
But we can also reveal today that more than dozens of other men had paid for gay sex at the same house in the previous few weeks.
Filho and a female Spanish prostitute had been at the house for less than two days after the prostitutes who had been there until last weekend were moved by their Dublin-based pimps.
“There was no shortage of men who used that brothel for gay sex,” said one source, “in fact over the past few weeks there were at least 20 local men using prostitutes there over and over again.”
Gardai who raided the premises told the court that they found notes in English on what both Filho and his co-accused Flor Yeni Montano Hurtado should say to clients – because they didn’t speak English.
The Garda raid is part of a nationwide crackdown on prostitution which is being run by Dublin-based gangs and facilitated in Letterkenny by a number of local men.
Prostitutes are moved from town to town, and No 9 Ballymacool Terrace was being used for the past few months.
Acting on a tip-off from angry local people, detectives spent several weeks watching the house, taking car registration numbers and interviewing a number of men seen leaving the premises.
It’s understood Gardai are liaising with colleagues in Dublin on several different investigations.
“The Ballymacool Terrace brothel has been closed but there will be another one somewhere else in Letterkenny already,” said one source.
“The pimps are supplying gay sex prostitutes to Letterkenny because there is clearly a demand for them and the Ballymacool brothel was further evidence of that. What was surprising is that most of the men using that house are married men with children.”
Both prostitutes claimed they were forced to move to Co Donegal and forced to pay €250 rent to their pimps.
However both of them had return flight tickets back to Brazil and Spain, leading to doubts over their claims that they were being trafficked.