Mother forced minor daughters into prostitution, neighbors knew but did not report

A heinous act by a mother who prostituted her two minor daughters and found male individuals for the said criminal offense for profit has resonated throughout Croatia, writes Index, reports the news agency Patria.

Information has appeared in the media that the local Center for Social Welfare in Varaždin, as well as neighbors and residents of the area, were aware of the entire case.

The Ministry of Social Policy and Youth told Index that they are aware of the case and emphasized that they have requested all documentation from the Center for Social Welfare in Varaždin and will conduct an administrative supervision of the Center.

However, the director of the Center, Siniša Česi, told Index that they had no knowledge of this case until January of this year.

"As soon as we learned about such a criminal offense of prostituting minors, we filed a report with the police, and everything started from there. In fact, we initiated the investigation," said Česi.

He added that after initiating the investigation, they placed the two minor children from that family into foster care.

"We are expected to read minds; it never occurred to us that something like this would happen in a family. Those residents who claim to have been aware of everything, why did no one report it? We requested a report from the school and the pediatrician, and there was no mention of it anywhere. The primary school should have known, but if the child did not confide in them, it is actually difficult to know and judge. But I still cannot believe that someone knew and did not report it. We have our protocol for handling such situations, and we have done everything according to the protocol," Česi told Index.

The school could not tell us anything because minors are involved, and they warned us about the protection of personal data.

The report resulted in an investigation by the County Prosecutor's Office in Varaždin and pre-trial detention for the mother, a 49-year-old woman, due to the risk of influencing witnesses and the risk of re-offending, as well as for five other men due to the risk of influencing witnesses.