A WOMAN trafficked women from Thailand to Australia to work as prostitutes, a Sydney court has been told.
The 48-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded guilty to illegally bringing 11 Thai women to Sydney between August 30, 2005 and April 1, 2008 for the purpose of sexual servitude.She also pleaded guilty to immigration offences related to the charge.The defendant, originally from Thailand, charged each woman a fee of $53,000 to come to Australia, Sydney District Court heard today.She paid a Thai agent $20,000 to supply the women, who then paid off their total debt by working as prostitutes.The court heard the defendant decided to set up the business after years of working as a prostitute in Sydney.Speaking through an interpreter, she told a sentencing hearing all the women had been interviewed by phone before their arrival and had been made aware of the nature of the work.
She said she wanted to earn an income to su …

See the full article from “NEWS.com.au”

Sydney mother forced Thai women into prostitution
By court reporter Jamelle Wells
Posted July 30, 2010 16:35:00
A Sydney mother who forced 11 Thai women to work as prostitutes to help pay off her mortgage has been jailed for at least 13 months.

The NSW District Court heard the women were forced to work off a debt they owed the woman for bringing them to Australia. She sent them to brothels in Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Adelaide and Perth.

She had worked in Thai restaurants and as a receptionist and sex worker in brothels since moving to Australia.
During her sentencing submissions yesterday, the woman said she used the money from the prostitutes to support her teenage daughter and pay the mortgage on a unit she brought at Lakemba in Sydney’s south-west in 1994.

See the full article from “ABC Online”

By GARRY MADDOX – Sydney Morning Herald
Could drivers be finding in their GPS units something more than just their way home? Are American Jill or Espanol Paulina becoming ”the other woman” for harried males who spend hours each day on the road? Are women driving to work fantasising about an evening with Irish Sean?
Karen Jacobsen, a little-known singer known as ”Australian Karen” in millions of TomToms, NavMans and other GPS units around the world, learnt a couple of years ago that she had an underground fan club of smitten drivers.

He quickly realised he was not alone. ”At sites like gpspassion.com and pdastreet.com, the number of lewd comments about the voices of American Jill or Australian Karen seem more suited to a convention of 900-number [adult entertainment line] users.”

See the full article from “Stuff.co.nz”

He said that there had been a lot of history whereby the two had co-operated with police and in one instance their information had resulted in a conviction for murder.
He submitted that the two, in setting up a “sting” on Mr Markham, during which he allegedly discussed criminal matters in a car, had not knowingly breached the act.
The two were not “on a frolic of their own”, he said.
The delay in taking the material to the police was partly because the initial information had not been tested. No reasonable person would have accepted that advice on its face value, he said.
They had not made a deliberate decision to “keep the police in the dark”.
Justice Fullerton observed that, although the information the two had picked up, relating to an alleged hit on a male prostitute, was taken to the police, it was taken only half an hour before the ACA program went to air.

See the full article from “Sydney Morning Herald”

Lambie also looked into claims of sex toys being distributed at training, prostitutes in the changerooms and pornographic emails being circulated through the workplace.
After questioning 26 former and current Sharks staff, Lambie concluded that Zappia’s punch to Hall’s face on August 9, 2008, was accidental. The finding was unanimously supported by football and administrative staff who spoke to Hall immediately after the incident, and who felt her story changed because of a verbal confrontation with Zappia on the same night.
A female employee in the Sharks office at the time Zappia and Hall were shadow boxing described the mood as jovial afterwards. But she claimed Hall was visibly upset later that evening – the night of Cronulla’s round 22 win over Souths – after Zappia rebuked her for telling other staff about the punch.

He also concluded that allegations of “prostitutes” in the home changerooms after the round 19, 2008, clash against Newcastle were motivated by Hall. The women were corporate guests who represented the alcohol industry.

See the full article from “Herald Sun”

It announced  yesterday a $20 million takeover deal for a Sydney brothel in a backdoor listing.
The company is set to buy the Stiletto brothel in the inner-west suburb of Camperdown, where clients can experience a “unique mixture of style, sex and theatre” for $200 a half-hour.
Rooms range from the Betty Boob, which is furnished with a large round bed and mirrors, to the Roman Orgy, which has a plunge pool, and the Royal Suite, which features a pole-dancing stage and pool table.

However, the company may be forced to restructure its operations to distance the listed entity from the business of selling sex, as Melbourne brothel The Daily Planet did when it listed in 2003.
With brothel owners required to be licensed by state authorities, shareholders, being unlicensed, can own part of an investment vehicle or property trust that earns income from the brothel, but not the business itself.

See the full article from “The Australian”

Call them strange bedfellows but Blackfeather Ltd and AdultShop.com (ASC), both firms catering to adult entertainment needs, are set to collaborate on a steamy deal as ASC announced on Tuesday that it is taking over Blackfeather’s Stiletto brothel operation.
In exchange for $20 million worth of ASC shares, priced at 21 cents each, AdultShop would take ownership of the Sydney-based Stiletto in a merger that would see a capital raising of $10 million aimed at sophisticated and professional investors.
In its statement, AdultShop said that the proposed merger “will be inter-conditional and will not be completed unless each other stage is completed,” as it added that the deal would be subject to approval by ASC shareholders.
As a result of the deal, the ASC board said that company shares were pushed up to a value of 2.5 cents per share as it emerged from a trading halt on Tuesday and by 1036 AEST on the same day, the shares were trading at 1.3 cents.

See the full article from “International Business Times AU”

MALCOLM Day’s Adultshop.com is moving into the Sydney brothel market via a complex acquisition and change of structure.
The company, which put up an official for sale sign up in February after seeing off a takeover move from Sexyland, announced this morning the acquisition of Blackfeather Limited’s bordello business Stiletto for about $20 million in stock.
Also on Adultshop.com’s agenda is a one-for-eight stock consolidation of its registry to reduce the number of shares to about 77 million and a placement to sophisticated investors to raise $10m.Adultshop.com also plans a buyback of all shares at 21 cents apiece — excluding the 95 million shares to be issued to Blackfeather and the 47.6 million share from the placement — following approval of the strategy, allowing suffering shareholders an exit from the struggling stock.

See the full article from “The Australian”

A man has been jailed for at least ten-and-a-half years for shaking a baby to death in Sydney’s west.
The 35-year-old man, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the little boy at a house in Blacktown in 2007.
The New South Wales Supreme Court heard that he had been living with the baby’s mother for six months and assaulted the baby several times.
It heard that one night, after coming home drunk, he shook the baby violently, choked and punched him and stomped on his chest.
In sentencing him to at least ten-and-a-half years in jail and a maximum term of 14-and-a-half-years, Justice Peter Hidden said the attack was brutal.
He said the man had killed before, previously getting a seven and a half year sentence for shooting a man he did not know in a Kingswood brothel.

See the full article from “ABC Online”

Activity Tours Australia (www.activitytours.com.au/sydney_day_tours.html (http://www.activitytours.com.au/sydney_day_tours.html)) has been operating great value day tours from Sydney for over ten years and has developed two new half day tours of the sights of Sydney. Each tour focuses on different highlights to provide distinct choices that can easily be linked for a complete full day tour.

It continues past the numerous historical buildings down to the magnificent views of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour from Mrs Macquaries Chair. The next stop is Woolloomooloo, along the golden mile in the red light district of King Cross, and back through Darlinghurst and Hyde Park and into the City. There are plenty of photo opportunities and chances to get off the bus to explore many highlights on the way.

With great passenger feedback, highly competitive prices from $54 per adult, and the convenience of 24 x 7 booking online or over the phone, its easy to see why Activity Tours Australia is a small tour provider on the rise around Sydney.

See the full article from “Melodika.net (press release)”