The young woman was forced into prostitution and severely abused by her partner for nearly six months. She managed to escape from her abuser in Austria. Lajos M., 31, was arrested in Sopron on 28 June by the regional division of Rapid Response Police National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
In April 2023, the police received a report from the hospital in Orosháza that a young woman had been so severely assaulted by her partner that she had suffered a fractured cheekbone and sternum, as well as bruising in several places.
The case was investigated by the Transnational Crime Department of the NBI in Székesfehérvár after police officers established that the abused woman was a victim of human trafficking. Witness interviews and data collection revealed that the 19-year-old girl met her future partner in the autumn of 2022, who forced her into prostitution. She was pimped by her partner in several countries, including Hungary, Austria and Sweden. After the girl started to resist, her partner first forced her to work in order to pay his expenses and debts, later threatened her and then physically abused her.
Following a particularly severe beating, the victim managed to escape from him to Hungary. After hospital treatment, the Police took her to a sheltered accommodation as part of a victim protection measure.
The regional division of NBI together with the task force of the Rapid Response Police, apprehended the perpetrator at his mother's house in Sopron on 28 June. The investigators questioned him as a suspect for the crime of human trafficking and forced labour, and then took him into criminal custody and initiated his arrest at the Csongrád-Csanád County Chief Prosecutor's Office.
The investigation is still ongoing whether the man had forced other women to perform sexual services in a similar way, or whether he had accomplices.
For more video and image of the arrest, visit the Police website: https://www.police.hu/hu/hirek-es-informaciok/legfrissebb-hireink/bunugyek/ausztriabol-menekult-haza-a-bantalmazott-lany#1