A 14-year-old girl found selling her body near the corner of Government and Fisgard streets is in government care after police arrested a man they say lured her here and forced her into prostitution.

The girl ran away from home in the B.C. Interior in October after meeting a Victoria man on the Internet, said Victoria police spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton.

“When she attempted to leave, she was beaten and threatened,” said Hamilton.

Tyrell Henwood, 22, is charged with assault, procuring for the purposes of prostitution, living off the avails of prostitution, forcible confinement, trafficking a person, luring a child, uttering threats, possession of child pornography and sexual assault.

He’s also charged in an Oct. 7 assault where two men beat a prostitute with a field hockey stick.

Up until a year ago, pimping was almost unheard of in Victoria, but that is changing, said Chris Leischner, executive director of the Prostitutes Empowerment, Education and Resource Society (PEERS).

“People may ask ‘what’s the significance of not having pimps?’ You keep your money yourself and you keep some of your pride, as well as control of what goes on with yourself,” she said.

When working for a pimp, sex workers are subject to increased violence and risky situations, Leischner said. “That’s part of how they control, is through violence.” Women working for pimps will also engage in riskier acts as they struggle to meet quotas, she said, adding that pimping is often tied to gangs attempting to control turf and the women who work on it.

Underage sex workers account for anywhere between 10 and 20 per cent of the city’s estimated 1,200 prostitutes, according to a PEERS study.

As poverty and homelessness grow, Leischner fears the number of exploited young people will too.

“We know what happens to many of these girls, they end up locked into rooms for months at a time while they’re being basically brainwashed, degraded, humiliated and used to the point where they feel they can’t get out.”

kvass@vicnews.com