Man accused of pimping girl, 17, pleads not guilty

A 23-year-old Montreal man accused ofoffering upa 17-year-old girl for sex with multiple clients pleaded not guilty in an Ottawa courtroom Monday morning.

Jamie Byron was arrested by Ottawa police in October 2011 on several charges, including living off the avails of juvenile prostitution, assault, keeping a common bawdy house and attempting to flee police.

He pleaded not guilty Monday to nine charges in total.

The alleged victim is cannot be named because of there is a publication ban on her identity.

In his opening statement, Crown prosecutor Julien Lalonde told the court Byron lured the girl into prostitution after meeting her on Facebook.

Lalonde said Byron pretended to want a relationship with the Windsor, Ont., girl and paid for a train ticket for her to come to Toronto. Lalonde said a friend of Byron's then picked her up in Toronto anddrove her to Montreal tomeet him.

When she arrived, court heard, Byron began tosell her into prostitution. Lalonde alleged that whenthe girlresisted, Byron beat her.

Lalondetold courtByron took the girl between Montreal, Ottawa, Barrieand Toronto for two monthsJuly 7 to Aug. 30, 2011and advertised her on Backpage.com, a free classifieds website.

The girl told police she had been offered up for sex with men more than 100 times, Lalonde told court, sometimes without protection.

Lalonde said that to stop her from escapingafter she made two attempts to do so,Byron allegedlydestroyed her health card and birth certificate.

She was only able to escape when an undercover Ottawa policedetective posing as ajohn found her in a hotel room.

Among the Crown witnesses expected to testify in the trial are allegedjohns, hotel managers and other Ottawa escorts who met the girl.