I wonder how much of this sort of thing goes on?

Sex slaves turning a trick

Article from: </IMG>By Janet Fife-Yeomans

December 03, 2008 12:00am

THEIR stories certainly sound appalling: Young Asian women lured to Australia with the promise of legitimate work as waitresses and a new life away from the poverty of their villages.

Then they arrive to find their new home is behind the barred windows of a seedy terrace house brothel, enslaved as prostitutes, with their passports taken from them, their only way of escape to pay off crippling debts to their new masters.

But save your tears until you hear the full tale - because these are hardly the "victims" they appear to be.

Many of these women come to Australia with eyes wide open, looking for an opportunity to rort the system.

As one person involved in the system said: "We treat these women as if they are stupid and they are not. We tend to think they are frail and helpless victims. And they are not."

Take the story of J, a 36-year-old Thai national whose story follows. It is the diary of one Sydney's sex slaves . . . who wasn't.

J had worked as a prostitute for 10 years in her native Thailand before seeking sex work in Australia through a Bangkok "employment agency".

Before she left Bangkok, she agreed that she would have sex with 700 men to repay a debt of $35,000 to her new employers who secured her a three-month business visa through a dodgy migration agent and paid for her air ticket.

After a few months, the brothel where she was working was raided by the AFP and Immigration Department as part of a clampdown on sex slavery.

J told police she had been locked up for 24 hours a day and allowed out only with an escort. She said she had been told she would be killed if she left.

In 2004 the Commonwealth introduced a scheme to support the legitimate victims of sex traffickers - progressive, but rushed through with few checks and balances and left open to abuse.

Under the scheme, the AFP and Commonwealth DPP obtained a criminal justice visa for J and some of her fellow prostitutes so they could stay in the country and give evidence in the trial of their employers.

The deal was that they received $200 a week plus free housing in a DPP-owned house, medical, living expenses and English classes. The bill for each woman came in at about $35,000 a year.

After 13 months, J had a baby and was living in a de facto relationship with an Australian. He was earning $800 a week and they lived with his parents but J continually contacted her case worker and wanted to know if she was entitled to more money because of her baby. She threatened to withdraw from the witness program and refuse to give evidence if she was not given "sufficient money".

With her minders walking on eggshells to keep her happy and available to give evidence, J moved on to family benefits of $243 a fortnight on top of her husband's income and her rent was paid pending approval of Centrelink payments.

But when J found out that another of her fellow sex slaves had already received her Centrelink benefits, she jacked up.

Her case worker arranged a list of properties for the couple to inspect but J was busy. The inspections were postponed.

J then up and moved out of her inlaws house in the middle of the night after a row. She called her caseworker to say she was staying there with her husband until they planned their next step. The bill was picked up by federal authorities.

J's case notes show that, a couple of days later, she almost came to blows with her long-suffering case worker because her sex slave friends were receiving benefits she was not entitled to because she was in a de facto relationship.

After two weeks in the hotel, the couple found a house and the case worker helped them move. Things were apparently going well when, a month later, J was accepted into an English course and arrangements were made for her baby to jump the one-year waiting list for a childcare place. She turned down the course and the childcare place on the day they were due to start.

Five months later, when the committal hearing began for her employers who were facing sex slavery charges, J was said to be happy, settling into her new life, making friends and applying for a spousal visa.

But there was one huge problem for the prosecution and the people who had been funding her lifestyle. She had been lying.

She admitted she made up the whole story about being locked up 24-hours a day and only allowed to leave under escort. She had a key, could come and go as she pleased. She said she wanted to earn as much as she could and had never asked for her passport to be returned.

The case was dropped.

Obviously not all the victims of sex slavery are vixens but this is one of several case files seen by The Daily Telegraph which demonstrate that, when Australian residency is held out as the ultimate reward for giving evidence and pleasing the authorities, the Government's anti-people trafficking scheme is open to abuse.

I wonder if this made it to the front page. I doubt it. Don't expect this to make the news. BTW, just how many of the young Asian ladies currently studying English in Australia are being supported by their wealthy parents ?

SMH recently ran a story about how many single men come to Thailand and how they are taking advantage of the poor Thai ladies of Bangkok and Pattaya. The story's inference was that every single male tourist to SE Asia is a sex tourist.

There were several letters published from "disgusted" readers as a result but the letter I was compelled to write explaining that these ladies aren't necessarily the victims they've been made out to be and possibly the similar letters of others written in reply were not published.

One more thing. 700 customers and a 3 month visa. That's 700 into 90 days, or about 8 a day allowing for the odd day off. That's one hel_l of a busy girl.

Indeed there are I'm sure serious cases of abuse and crime, but also other cases. I am aware of a long standing tourist to Pattaya's night life that was contacted by an 'ex' who reported that she accepted a job in a business in Japan for a 12 month contract. When she arrived there she said her passport was removed etc. and the normal story of change of job description shall we say from working in the food inductry to sex worker occured.

After a week or so of debate in his mind, despite me suggesting it was a scam, he paid the one million baht (I think it was) that she needed to be freed from this contract.

He sorted out an airfare if I recall correctly and made plans to meet her on his next trip to Thailand.

He later told me that she remained in Japan and had 'other' work now. It's a subject we don't discuss now.

Famous lawer in HK fell for a Russian lady of the night in Macao.

He went to free her from her contract in the port city of Vladivostok.

They tortured her to death in front of his eyes and then killed him as a warning to others.

Story sort of serves as a similar warning............................Ish

Why would they kill him/her if he turned up offering money to buy her out? They are in business after all.

I would imagine a famous HK lawyer would be quite capable of covering her projected career earnings. It's not as if hookers have a particularly lengthy peak earning period. (A bit like other professional sports persons).

They killed him to send a message to the other girls about bucking the system and at that time, there was a major gang war on going over control of casino licenses. The killing in such a gruesome way sent messages to the authorities and rivals about who were the potential " big boys" on the block.

I actually knew the guy ( Kiwi, ex-HK Govt Prosecutor ) and saw him and his slavic beauty up by the Macau Golf Club without a care in the world shortly before the fateful trip.

Sounds like crazy Russian Mafia stuff. Any chance of a link for it? Key words aren't bringing up much on Google.

Mate

Type in "Alderdice" and murder of HK lawer Valdivostok.......Loads of stories about the sad case.