Two face sex slavery charges

2004-12-03 15:57

Melbourne, Australia - Two men appeared in an Australian court on Friday charged with sex slavery offences related to an alleged transnational syndicate exploiting women from Thailand, Korea and Hong Kong, court officials said.

Kam Tin Ho, 35, of no fixed address, was charged at Melbourne magistrates court with entering into a commercial transaction involving a slave and conducting a business that involved the sexual servitude of other people.

Chee Fui Hoo, 38, a Malaysian living in the Melbourne suburb of North Fitzroy, was charged with three counts of possessing a slave.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers arrested the two in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra on Thursday.

AFP agent Josephine Accetta said Ho and another suspect, Hoting Yeung, ran two Melbourne brothels where foreign women were forced to work as prostitutes.

Hoo helped by keeping three Thai women locked in a house and driving them to and from the brothels, Accetta told the court.

The women were among a group of at least seven who told police they were slaves.

Accetta said a year-long investigation had produced a "very strong case" including telephone intercept evidence.

Ho was recorded trying to sell a 21-year-old woman for A$21 000 (about R95 000) after flying to Sydney with Yeung in August this year. Yeung fled overseas on November 4 and was not expected to return, Accetta said.

The case involves incidents alleged to have occurred between June 2003 and November 2004.

Both men were ordered to reappear on 25 February 2005, although a bail application for Ho is due next week.

Hoo was refused bail. Magistrate Lesley Fleming noted he had few links to Australia, was a frequent international traveller and had been accused of trying to contact witnesses.

- AFP