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http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/victorian-woman-jailed-for-slavery/2006/06/09/1149815316620.html The Age (Melbourne) Victorian woman jailed for slavery The first person in Australia to be found guilty of possessing sex slaves will spend at least six years in jail. Wei Tang, a former Fitzroy brothel owner, was sentenced in the County Court yesterday to 10 years' jail, with a minimum term of six years, for keeping five Thai women as sex slaves. Each had to work off debts of up to $45,000. Tang, who wept as she was sentenced, is the first person found guilty under Australia's sexual servitude laws, which carry a maximum of 25 years' jail. The women worked six-day weeks in Tang's Club 417 brothel in Brunswick Street. On their day off they could choose to work for spending money. The women were brought to Melbourne from Thailand knowing they would work in the sex industry and hoping to eventually be able to work legally. All had worked in the sex industry in Thailand. Tang, 44, formerly of North Balwyn, pleaded not guilty to five counts of possessing a slave and five counts of exercising power over a slave. A jury found her guilty of all charges earlier this month. Details of the case were suppressed until yesterday. The offences occurred between August 2002 and May 2003, and the five women were found during an Immigration Department raid on Club 417. They had had their passports taken from them and were forced to perform sex acts to cover the costs of air fares, visas, passports and living costs. Clients would pay $110 for sex, but only $50 went to paying off their debt. Two women had repaid their debt before they were discovered. One victim was told on arrival in Melbourne that she would have to service between 500 and 600 men to work off a debt of $45,000. It took her a year to repay and she told the jury she could not refuse customers, even if she was menstruating. She said she was escorted most places: to and from work and to and from shops, but that her liberty increased as she neared the end of her debt. Another woman who was charged after the raid received a reduced jail term for co-operating with police. She was sentenced in January last year to at least 2½ years' jail for slavery and slave trading charges. Judge Michael McInerney said that while the women were not locked up, they were "effectively restrained by the insidious nature of their contract". He interpreted slavery to include a situation arising from a debt that may not necessarily be exploitative or oppressive. He found the slavery must place a person in a condition "whereby a power attaching to the right of ownership is extended over him or her". Tang was tried on the charges last year but a jury failed to reach a verdict. Tang's lawyer said she had endured an oppressed upbringing in China before coming to Australia in 1998. -------------------------------------------- http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,19422472%255E2862,00.html Herald Sun (Melbourne) Sex slave trader jailed The first person in Australia found guilty of slavery will serve at least six years' jail for what a judge described as crimes against humanity. Brothel owner Wei Tang was convicted last week by a County Court jury of possessing and using five women as sex slaves in 2002 and 2003. The five victims were recruited in Thailand to work in Tang's Club 417 in Brunswick St, Fitzroy, and given $45,000 "contracts", which they were forced to pay off by servicing up to 900 clients over a period of several months. They were smuggled into Australia and the Fitzroy madam, 44, used the threat of capture and deportation by immigration officials to keep the slaves bound to their apartment in Rae St, which was known as Mummies. The women were penniless and friendless, unable to speak English and deprived of their passports. Judge Michael McInerney said the fact that the door to the apartment was not permanently locked did not mean the women were free to leave, because of Tang's insidious use of fear of deportation and their lack of money, passports or legitimate visas. Tang charged customers $110 for her slaves' services and $50 went towards their contract debt. She pocketed the rest. They worked six days a week and the only way the women could make any money for themselves was to work a seventh shift, from which they could keep $50 a client. Judge McInerney said the women might have consented to the contracts but did so because they were financially deprived and vulnerable, had little education and sought to better their lives. He rejected Tang's claim that the women got a good deal, saying the contracts were designed to procure large profits for her - up to $69,000 a contract minus expenses - while leaving the sex workers at grave risk of being deported when their contracts expired. Tang, an Australian citizen, pleaded not guilty and last year a jury could not reach a verdict, resulting in a retrial that lasted eight weeks. The woman who recruited the victims in Thailand and arranged for them to be brought to Australia - and who cannot be named for legal reasons - pleaded guilty to slave trading and gave evidence against Tang. Judge McInerney said he took into account the fact that Tang had come from a harsh background in China. But, given her own experiences of repression, it was surprising she would commit such serious crimes against humanity, the judge said. He jailed Tang, of North Balwyn, for 10 years and ordered that she serve at least six years before becoming eligible for parole. ------------------------------------------------ http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19419973-2702,00.html The Australian Sex-slave trader jailed under new laws In the first successful prosecution of sex-slave traders under federal anti-trafficking laws, a Melbourne brothel owner has been jailed for 10 years. Judge Michael McInerney in the Victorian County Court sentenced Wei Tang, of Fitzroy, yesterday, saying the 44-year-old had committed heinous crimes against five Thai women. Tang, the owner of the Fitzroy Club 417 was convicted by a jury of five charges of possessing and owning a slave. Judge McInerney said Tang had been motived by profit and had committed serious crimes against humanity. She will have to serve a minimum of six years. He found that the restrictions on the women amounted to an "insidious use of control by way of fear". Tang had forced the five Thai women to work without pay to service a "debt" of $45,000 a head. Under their contracts, each woman had to provide sexual services to 900 customers over six days a week for four to six months. Of the $110 charged for each time they had sex with a customer, $67 was paid to the owners, $43 went to the brothel and $50 was deducted from the contract debt. The women did not earn any cash during the contract period. However, if they worked for a seventh day they could keep the $50 that would have gone to towards reducing the contract debt. The debt represented the highly inflated cost of their travel and resettlement in Australia. The women were aware they were coming to Australia to work in the sex industry but had no idea of the conditions. Judge McInerney found that while the women were not kept physically locked up, they were "effectively restrained by the insidious nature of their contract". He heard that they had no money, no passport, limited English, no friends and were told to avoid Immigration. The first charges under the federal anti-trafficking laws passed in 1995 were laid after a two-year investigation by The Weekend Australian. It led to a series of award-winning reports revealing the widespread trafficking and sexual exploitation of women. -------------------------------------------------- http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,19424897%255E1702,00.html The Advertiser (Adelaide) Sex slavery sentence welcomed The Federal Government has welcomed the first jailing in Australia for sex slavery. Brothel owner Wei Tang, 44, was found guilty by a jury of possessing sex slaves and was jailed for 10 years. The Minister for Justice, Senator Chris Ellison, said the result was a welcome landmark in the federal government's fight against sex slavery and the international slavery trade. Tang wept uncontrollably as she was sentenced to 10 years jail with a minimum of six years after a Victorian County Court jury in Melbourne found her guilty of five charges of possessing a slave and five of owning a slave. "Today's conviction is the result of concerted efforts by the Australian Federal Police, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to identify possible victims of this heinous crime and bring the perpertrators to justice," Senator Ellison said. The eight-week trial was told five Thai sex workers, who cannot be named, were smuggled into Australia on illegally obtained visas with the promise they would eventually be able to work legally in the sex trade. But the women were told they first had to work off a debt of about $45,000 each. The women worked at Tang's brothel, Club 417 in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy in Melbourne's inner-north. The offences took place between August 2002 and May 2003. They had to work six days a week in the brothel for no pay over four to six months, serving 900 customers. The women received $50 pocket money if they worked on the seventh day, the court was told. Judge Michael McInerney said while the women were not kept under lock and key, they were "effectively restrained by the insidious nature of their contract". That included the fear of detection from immigration authorities, they had no money, no passport, no friends and limited English, the court was told. Tang was one of the first people charged under federal anti-slavery laws introduced in 1999 and now the first person to be found guilty by a jury under the legislation. Judge McInerney said he took into account that Tang had no prior convictions and the harsh background she endured in China as a daughter of a banker until she moved to Australia in 1998. He said the victims were well-provisioned, fed and provided for in order to work in Tang's business. Tang's original trial ended in a deadlocked jury in May last year.
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