Thai women 'caught in Melbourne sex slave scheme'
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Shelley Hadfield
April 23, 2009 07:44pm
A THAI woman who claims to have been caught up in a sex slave scheme sent $32,000 to Thailand while under a contract in Melbourne, a court has heard.
Prosecutor Daniel Gurvich told the Supreme Court earlier this week that five women came to Australia under contracts to service 650 to 750 men to repay a debt for their passage to Melbourne and the opportunity to earn money.
Four men are on trial facing slavery-related offences.
James Montgomery, SC, representing Ho Kam Ho, told jurors that the main issue in the trial was whether the women were slaves. He said that when jurors looked at a whole series of factors they could not possibly convict his client of slavery offences.
He told the court that one of the women sent $31,900 to Thailand during her four- to five-month contract period.
On Wednesday, Mr Gurvich said Jono Lovelock, 19, Kam Tin Ho, 40, Ho Kam Ho, 38, Chee Fui Hoo, 42, and Slamet Edy Rahardjo, 53, were each accused of playing a part in a sophisticated and well-planned scheme to bring Thai woman to Australia and profit from their willingness to work for minimal reward in the sex industry.
Defence counsel John Dickinson, SC, urged jurors to use their heads not their hearts.
He said the case involved sex, prostitution, brothels and allegations of slavery, "all of which can excite a reaction in most normal people''.
Mr Dickinson, representing Kam Tin Ho, said the ultimate question for jurors to decide was whether the women were slaves.
"The prosecution says the relationship is slave owner to slave - or is it contractor/sub-contractor, employer and employee, or some other categorisation that is not slave owner and slave,'' Mr Dickinson said.
Mr Gurvich told jurors during his opening address that the five women came to Australia on contracts, under which they had to service 650 to 750 men to repay a debt for their passage to Melbourne and the opportunity to earn money.
He said there were strict controls over many aspects of the women's lives and their passports were taken from them while they worked off their debt.
But Mr Dickinson said claims that the women had their movements restricted and passports taken from them were issues in the trial.
Jim Bisas, representing Mr Hoo, said his client was a driver or gofer for two of the women but he disputed that he possessed or used them as slaves.
He said there was a dispute that he played any intentional or active part in a scheme to bring Thai women to Australia to work for minimal reward in the sex industry or that he had knowledge of debt arrangements into which they entered.
Leonard Hartnett, representing Mr Rahardjo, of Maroubra in New South Wales, said his client was not charged with engaging in a scheme but entering into a commercial transaction involving a slave.
Mr Hoo, of Burnside Heights, is charged with two counts of possessing a slave and one of using a slave.
Kam Tin Ho, of East Doncaster, is charged with five counts of possessing a slave, four of using a slave, one of entering into a commercial transaction involving a slave and four offences of structuring cash transactions.
Ho Kam Ho, of East Doncaster, is charged with four counts of possessing a slave, four of using a slave, one of entering into a commercial transaction involving a slave and one of structuring cash transactions.
The men have pleaded not guilty.
The trial before Justice Philip Cummins continues next week
