'I am a prostitute since 12'

A Somali ex trafficking case unfolding in court highlights the pathetic state of a teenager, who claims she became a prostitute at the age of 12.

Gang members used fraud and force to lead a 12-year-old 6th grader in suburban Minneapolis into a life of prostitution that involved being repeatedly violated and trafficked to Minnesota and Tennessee, federal prosecutors said in opening statements Monday in Nashville.

Assistant US Attorney Van Vincent told jurors that it was a "sad case", but also a crime, reported AP.

Defense attorneys said the young woman was a runaway and a "party girl" who willingly had sex with multiple defendants and lied about it so her conservative Somali family could save face.

Seven of the nine defendants are of Somali descent. Another was born in Ethiopia and another was born in the US and is of Laotian descent.

The young woman, who has only been identified as Jane Doe No. 2, said the gang members charged as little as $50 for people outside the gang to use her for sex. The petite witness told jurors that at one point some of them considered selling her as a sex slave to someone for $2,000.

She testified that she is now 17 years old, but her age is in dispute. A federal prosecutor announced Monday the government just discovered her birth certificate was a fake.