Country
Modern slavery in Australia
20 documented cases recorded in Australia, 2000–2011. Locations are deliberately generalized to protect survivors.
Spring Hill, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, Australia
The victim was asked by a school friend to move into her apartment with her boyfriend (the trafficker) after the victim had a fight with her family. When the victim moved in the couple forced the teenager into prostitution so they could pay their rent. She was told that if she didn’t do this she would be on the streets. Using a credit card the man put 2 advertisements in a Brisbane paper and then drove the girl to appointments of people who responded. In the span of the week she had 5 sexual encounters, one with a 25 yr old woman and the others with men aged between 40 and 60. She earned $4500 for the couple but received only a free room in the apartment and buckets of chicken nuggets.
Gold Coast, Australia, Australia
He recruited Thai prostitutes and brought them to Australia on false pretences. The women went over to Australia knowing that they were going to be prostitutes and they agreed to come since they wanted to make money for their children in Thailand to give them a better life. He earned up to $1000 a day from the women and only gave them $20 for their expenses and use of a room. The women had to work whether they wanted to our not and do things that they did not feel comfortable doing, he would became verbally abusive towards them and threatened them that he was their visa sponsor and they could not leave. He deceived them about the amount of hours they would work and how much money they would earnHe pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking, it totally he received five years for human trafficking, with 22 months non-parole period. http://www.law.uq.edu.au/documents/humantraffic/case-reports/dobie.pdf
Sydney, Australia (exact address has not been released), Australia
After being arrested for "sexual servitude," Ms Netthip also pleaded guilty to a number of immigration offences. Ms Netthip was sentenced on 30 July 2010 to two years and three months imprisonment for the sexual servitude offences, with a non-parole period of 13 months. In relation to the migration offences she received a three-and-a-half year good behaviour bond. As stated above, between about August 2005 and March 2008, Ms Netthip conducted a business through which she organised the placement of 11 Thai women in brothels in Australian cities, including Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth. Each women was recruited in Thailand. A Thai facilitator arranged passports and visas and made travel arrangements. Each women agreed that, once in Australia, she would repay a "debt" of $53,000. On average, a complainant took about six months to repay her debt. Ms Namthip Netthip worked to fraudulently assist the Thai women to receive refugee status in Australia. Ms Netthip provided her with false factual information about the conditions that they had experienced in Thailand. The offender coached complainants about the manner in which they should respond to questions posed by DIAC officers. Once one of the Thai women had applied for a protection visa, she was entitled to work while she awaited the outcome of the immigration assessment. This incident was reported by the Media in Australia, see, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/30/.htm and by the University of Queensland - TC Beirne School of Law - Human Trafficking Working Group - Case Reports - Case Name - R v Namthip Netthip - current on August 12, 2010. For further information see the court report at the following address - http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/dcjudgments/2010nswdc.nsf//086afd561dfad40fca2577700002d911?opendocument
Edgecliff, NSW 2007, Australia, Australia
Father had legal custody and reported the case to the Police and took his daughter into the station for an interview. The girl says she was subjected to physical and mental abuse and forced to take illicit drugs. The Mother initially denied any knowledge of the claims, then changed her mind and pleaded guilty. The victim, whose identity has been kept confidential, said that she is heartbroken by the actions of her mother. She has also described how her mother’s betrayal left her incapable of trusting anyone and caused her to self-harm. The girl, then 16, was put on a train from Wollongong and sent to work at a brothel in Edgecliff, close to Sydney. The brothel was described by Judge Paul Conlon as ‘a high class agency, however frequented by low class individuals’.
Adelaide, Australia
The Fair Work Ombudsman launched its investigation after recieving information from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Workplace inspectors visited the former Mitsibishi site twice in January, three times in February and once in May and interviewed the workers, China SNAN lawyers and Mitsibishi representatives.
Mount Waverley, Ashburton and North Fitzroy in Melbourne VICTORIA, Australia
Supreme Court of Victoria sentenced these 4 people with in varying degrees with some of the following: 1. possessing a slave 2. exercising over a slave any of the powers attaching to the right of ownership 3. entering a commercial transaction involving a slave
Clifton Hotel, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
The case was initially brought to the attention of the authorities by an informant in 1997 and it resulted in the arrest of Mr Glazner 14 months later in 1999. Glazner had bought Thai women from agents in Thailand for between $15,000 and $18,000, and they had knowingly come to Australia to work as prostitutes (McKinney 2001). Evidence was presented at an initial committal hearing showing that the women feared Glazner and that he withheld their passports, restricted their movements, and kept them in debt bondage (Police vs. Gary Galzner and Paul Donato Marino 1999). Detective Senior Sergeant Ivan McKinney outlined the evidence presented (at the committal hearing and trial) at a public forum in 2001. He said Glazner chose to enforce the “contract” under the first condition of 500 “free jobs”, each job being a half hour of sex. (McKinney 2001). At least 40 women were proven to be connected to Glazner through DIMIA records. Investigators suspected four to five times this many women were involved. The women were generally prostituted for 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. McKinney detailed the conditions of sexual servitude under which the women were kept upon arrival in Australia. Their living conditions at the Kew hotel where they were housed were extremely cramped and they were locked in. Glazner had installed a large locked iron gate and bars on the stairwells, and sealed the windows. Glazner or an associate drove them to and picked them up from the brothel where they were prostituted (McKinney 2001). Journalist Mark Forbes, reporting on the trial for the Age newspaper, wrote that Glazner had verbally abused and intimidated the women, and kept a loaded gun in clear view of the women at the hotel (Forbes 1999). The women feared for their lives and of reprisals against themselves or their families back in Thailand. As “Michelle’s” translator stated for her at the trial: “She said if she is here, maybe she will die. If she goes back to Thailand, she will die” (Police vs. Gary Galzner and Paul Donato Marino 1999.
Moonah (Hobart), Tasmania, Australia
"Gary John Devine of Moonah was charged under the same investigation that saw Tasmanian politician Terry Martin charged with child sex offences." Gary Devine, 50, “charged with procuring a girl aged under 17 years to have unlawful sex with a man at a house in Hobart” “He is also charged with raping the girl on September 3 and raping a woman on August 9." “He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been bailed to appear in the Supreme Court for a committal hearing on February 10.” “...charged with taking and possessing photographs of the girl performing sex acts.” “He is also charged with permitting unlawful sex with the girl after inducing her to be at the house for the purpose of having unlawful intercourse with a man.” He has pleaded ‘not guilty.’ Devine abused media covering the case. all information taken from WA today online
KAMBAH ACT AUSTRALIA, Australia
A Canberra woman will face the ACT Magistrates court on sex slavery charges. Australian Federal Police raided a house in the southern Canberra suburb of Kambah at the weekend. It is alleged the 42-year-old woman illegally brought in sex workers to Australia to work in exploitative conditions. The woman is charged with possessing a slave, debt bondage and operating an illegal brothel. A 55-year-old man will also face court.
Sydney, Australia, Australia
Four Australians and one South Korean woman were arrested and charged with offences relating to running a sex trafficking business. The business was estimated to be making 3 million Australian dollars a year (about $2.8 million US dollars). Police raided a Sydney brothel and rescued 10 South Korean women. The victims were recruited in South Korea with offers of jobs and organized work visas. Once they arrived in Australia the traffickers took their passports and made the victims work in a brothel for up to 20 hours a day.
Surrey Hills Sydney Australia, Australia
Melbourne film maker Luigi Acquisto helped 'Ning' lodge her claim, finding her whilst researching for a human trafficking documentary. He then enlisted the help of human rights lawyer Fiona McLeod who in turn helped Ning to lodge her claim
Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia
Mr. Dobie tried to recruit 4 women under false pretenses from Thailand. 2 arrived in Australia, expecting to work in the sex industry,but upon arrival, both were forced to have sex with clients for whom Mr. Dobie received the money. Upon asking to leave this work, they were told they would be arrested if they left, as he was their vias sponsor. The police arrested him, He was charged with and later pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in persons (deceptive recruitment),4 counts of presenting false information to an immigration officer,and one count of dealing in the proceeds of crime.
Melbourne, Australia, Australia
Thai women were trafficked into Australia by a Thai woman DS and sent to work in brothels in Melbourne and Sydney. Five of these Thai women were sent to Ms Wei Tang's licensed brothel Club 417 in Fitzroy, Melbourne. The women were told they would be able to work legally in the sex trade and send money home to their families, once they had paid off their “debt”. However, they did not know the precise terms of their debt or their living or working conditions until they arrived in Australia. They were "owned" by “syndicates” with Tang taking 70% of their earnings and DS and her associates taking 30%. Each woman was bought by the syndicate from the "boss" in Thailand who recruited them for $AUD20,000. However, they were told their total "debt" to the syndicate was $45,000. The women were forced to work six days a week without any pay because all of the $110 charged to each client was divided between their owners, with $50 going toward paying off their $45,000 debt. The women were only allowed to keep that $50 per client on their seventh "free" day each week. Between August 2002 and May 2003 each woman was forced to serve up to 900 customers over 4-6 months. The women's passports and return airfares were taken from them and they were effectively restricted to the brothel premises because of their hours, nature of work, lack of payment and the fear of detection by immigration authorities, instilled in them by Tang and DS. The women lived in premises arranged by Tang. Two of the women ultimately paid off their debts, were given back their passports and were free to choose their hours of work and accommodation.
Fairfield, NSW, Australia, Australia
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.
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, Australia
Law enforcement received a tip-off regarding the website and arrested the parents. The mother plead guilty to 62 offences and the father to 41 offences. She was sentenced to 13 and 9 years gaol time and he to 10 and 7 years gaol time for the crimes of procuring the prostitution of their daughter; and maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with their daughter, respectively. They will be eligible for parole after four years and three years, respectively.
Strathfield, Parramatta and Penrith, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Australia
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.
Napranum, Far North Queensland Australia, Australia
Australian Police Department of Immigration and Citizenship The case was tried by the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2007. Appealed in 2008. Retried in February 2010 in the Cairns Supreme Court. Ms. Melita Kovacs (now divorced from Zoltan Kovacs) was found guilty of intentionally possessing a slave and intentionally exercising ownership over / using a slave. Mr. Zoltan Kovacs pleaded guilty to the same charges.
Auburn, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Australia
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.
Weipa, Queensland, Australia, Australia
There was conviction of: Possessing a Slave Exercising ownership over a Slave Arranging a Marriage for Visa Purposes Rape and Sexual Assault (see www.law.uq.edu.au/humantrafficking)
Sydney, Australia, Australia
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.