A Sunday People investigation today reveals how kids living in shocking squalor and high on crack cocaine and glue, are exploited by drug dealers and pimps. A Sunday People investigation today reveals how kids living in shocking squalor and high on crack cocaine are exploited by drug dealers and pimps.
FEAR for their lives after a year-old prostitute was murdered and her body dumped in the street last month by a man who refused to pay for sex. With its enticing beaches next to towering skyscrapers, Recife is the fifth largest city in Brazil and will host five World Cup matches. As soon as you arrive at the airport, the taxi drivers waiting to pick you up offer to take you to places to buy drugs or sex.
Children sit around in city centre squares where fans will gather. This should be a harmless scene of innocence but many of these kids will be offering sex without a second thought. Many had attempted to make themselves look older with clothes and make-up.
Accompanied by a translator and a missionary who works with children on the streets, I spoke to three very young girls, one of whom was clearly not well because of the drugs she was taking and glue she was sniffing. I was told later by an older prostitute who has taken on a mother role for the children that the police have failed to find the killer. In the three hours I spent with the children as they openly went about their business, a police car passed twice but officers did nothing.
Pimps come and go alongside drug dealers, safe in the knowledge the police are unable to stem the horror. You could pass her in the street and not think anything of her but the reality is much of the community fears her.
