Teen pimp ringleader hearing details troubled youth

A young woman found guilty of running a teen human trafficking ring has shown narcissistic and anti-social behaviour and has poor prospects for reform without as much as 10 to 15 years of behavioural therapy, a doctor told an Ottawa courtroom Thursday.

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• Ottawa girl, 17, found guilty of prostituting other teens
• Teen girls charged with prostituting other teens

Dr. Gregory Motayne from The Royal hospital was ordered to do a psychological assessment of the now 18-year-old woman, who was 15 when she was arrested in 2012 and accused of forcing several teens into prostitution.

She was found guilty earlier this year on 27 charges, including procurement for the purpose of prostitution, human trafficking, making child pornography, sexual assault, child luring, uttering threats and unlawful confinement.

Crown prosecutors want the young woman sentenced as an adult.

Bullied child to brink of suicide, court heard

Dr. Motayne, a specialist in youth violence, told the court the teen has had a history of aggression at an early age, and had physically bullied children since grade one, and that by grade six, one of her victims had contemplated suicide. 

The court also heard of an allegation that when she was eight years old she and her nine-year-old sister held down a five-year-old boy and made sexual contact with him.

Police did not pursue charges because of the ages of the accused, but Dr. Motayne noted that the Children's Aid Society became heavily involved in supervising the family.

Motayne said the teen began drinking at age 12 and smoking marijuana at age 14 and admitted substance abuse affected how she treated the victims.

During the trial, three girls, between 13 and 17 years old at the time, described how they were delivered to johns and forced to hand over earnings for performing sex acts. Four other girls testified about their experiences, including one who described being photographed naked in a bathtub when she was too drunk to move.

The doctor noted that although the young woman did not attend school, she was intelligent, but said she scored above average on tests that look at self-deception, and said she perceives herself as special and charming.

He said she had a similar profile of a narcissist and an anti-social sociopath.

Motayne was asked what effect the young woman's mother's substance abuse and involvement in prostitution had on her.

Motayne wouldn't comment on the specifics of this case but said children are influenced by behaviours at home.