A sex trafficking case from 2006 in Fairfield, NSW, Australia.
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Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?
They were each found guilty last year of five counts of possessing a slave and five counts of using a slave - the first successful prosecution of its kind in NSW.
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Daniel Sweeseang Kwok, Jenny Lai Chin Ong, Raymond Aik Tong, Hosea Panyud Saputra Yoe deceptively recruited three Indonesian women to travel to Australia to work in the catering or public relations industries. They were only informed upon arrival in Australia that they were in fact to be engaged in sex work. Only then were they told that they would have to perform 800 sexual acts for no payment to repay a ‘contract debt’ of which they had no prior knowledge. The women decided that they were not prepared to undertake that sex work and managed to escape from the apartment of Ong and Tan in Auburn on 14 June 2003.
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Mr Johan Sieders and his wife Ms Yotchomchin Somsri owned and managed four brothels in Sydney. One brothel in Strathfield and two in Parramatta were owned by Somsri and one in Penrith was owned by Sieders and Somsri. Five Thai women who had been trafficked into the brothels gave evidence against the traffickers. Four of the women were recruited in Thailand by a Thai woman known as Montha or Pat and sent to Australia on false tourist visas to undertake sex work in Australia. They were informed that they would have to repay a ‘contract’ sum of $45,000 before they could earn money themselves. One of the women and the brother of another woman (‘BB’) also entered written agreements in Thailand for lesser amounts. BB’s brother signed an agreement as guarantor for his sister’s debt of $15,000 which he was told she would pay off after three months’ work. The women handed over their passports and return airfares to Sieders and Somsri and were sent directly to work at the brothels on arrival in Australia. They did not receive any money and were not free until they had worked off their ‘contract’ sum. The only exception was that very occasionally a client might give them a tip of between $5 and $20 which they were allowed to keep. They were required to perform up to 563 one hour services or 1500 fifteen minute services to pay off their debt. Four of the women were able to pay off their debt in periods between 2 months 20 days and 7 months. After that they continued to work at brothels but were paid for their services and free to choose where to work. The fifth woman ‘BB’ was still working to pay off her debt when she was rescued by Department of Immigration officials. She had previously asked her cousin who worked as a prostitute in Australia to report her to police so that she could be sent home.
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Gary Glazner ran topless bars in Melbourne before branching out into brothels. He recruited 20- 40 women in Thailand and brought them to Sydney. He forced them to perform up to 500 "jobs" before they had "paid him back," and then kept them under contract for a further 12 months. He kept them locked in the brothel and kept their passports so they did not have a chance of escaping.