A woman who persuaded her friend's under-age daughter to work with her as a prostitute at a Sydney brothel has pleaded guilty to two charges in Wollongong District Court.
The sex worker, who cannot be named for legal reasons, helped the year-old get a job at the Liaisons Escort Agency at Edgecliff after telling the teen how much money could be made working as a prostitute. Police allege she altered the girl's birth certificate to convince the escort agency she was 18, before the girl's own mother emailed the altered document to the brothel manager.
Attracted by the financial rewards of the work, the teen willingly went along with the charade and travelled with the woman to the agency to work several shifts late last year. During the short time she worked there the girl, who went under the pseudonym Layla, participated in a variety of sexual acts with some 18 clients.
While there, she was subjected to violence, mental abuse and was forced to participate in illegal drug use by clients, according to facts before the court. The teen had first agreed to the work in an attempt to raise funds for a clothing business her mother and the woman wanted to open, the facts said. Despite this, the girl soon found it degrading and had suffered emotionally and psychologically as a result. The woman was due to face trial yesterday after pleading not guilty to one count each of inducing the year-old to participate in child prostitution, falsifying her birth certificate and intimidating her and her father.
However, the woman changed her mind and pleaded guilty to inducing the teen to participate in child prostitution and intimidating her and her father shortly after the trial began. Crown prosecutor David Williams told the court he would not pursue the charge of falsifying the teen's birth certificate, subject to the two guilty pleas. The girl's mother had already pleaded guilty to inciting her under-age daughter to participate in child prostitution and receiving money from child prostitution, and had been due to give evidence against her co-accused during the trial.
