A Colombian mother has been caught selling her 12 young daughters’ virginities for just £125 (N32,177) each, police said.
Margarita de Jesus Zapata Moreno, 45, was detained in Bogota earlier this week after one of her girls, now 16 and pregnant, contacted police.
The teen was angry after her mother ordered her to abort her child, it is claimed.
Tito Cornelio Daza, 51, reportedly the biological father of the girl’s baby, was also arrested.
Univision reports that Zapata, who has a total of 14 children, would sell their virginities once they turned 12-years-old. She would then allegedly force them to prostitute themselves to pay the bills.
‘It hurts that a mother would do this,’ police chief Carlos Melendez, investigating the case, told reporters.
‘The mother contacted highly solvent but depraved men so they could have sex with the minors when they turned 12,’ he added.
Zapata, who has denied the allegations, faces 10 years in prison if convicted.
The daughter who reported her mother is now receiving psychological help from the Colombian Family Welfare Institute.
