A former brothel madam is facing a lengthy prison stretch after being found guilty of slavery in the first case of its kind heard in a Canberra court.
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And it can be now be revealed Watcharaporn Nantahkhum's victim, who cannot be named, was also sexually abused by a man closely linked to her captor.
The Thai victim was brought to Australia willingly to work in the sex industry but found herself isolated, controlled and raped.
An ACT Supreme Court jury yesterday took about two hours to find Nantahkhum guilty of intentionally possessing a slave and attempting to pervert the course of justice by offering her a 500,000 Thai baht (then about $16,000) bribe to keep quiet and return home.
It's the first time a slavery charge, a Commonwealth offence carrying a potential jail sentence of 25 years, has been prosecuted in the ACT.
Commonwealth prosecutor Sara Cronan argued there was virtually no aspect of the victim's life Nantahkhum didn't control.
But the woman's lawyers suggested their client's accuser was a mercenary with an axe to grind against Nantahkhum.
Nantahkhum was also found guilty of four Migration Act offences, ranging from allowing a non-citizen to work in breach of a visa condition and allowing an unlawful non-citizen to work in conditions of exploitation.
The case is the first time the migration offences, which relate to the slavery victim and another Thai woman, have been contested at trial in Australia.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship last night confirmed both women were given permanent residency and were residing lawfully in Australia.
Nantahkhum, 45, spent last night behind bars after Justice Richard Refshauge revoked her bail.
Her associate Robert Phillip Dick, also known as ''Bobo'' or ''Uncle'', is on bail awaiting sentence after a separate ACT Supreme Court trial earlier this year.
Last month a jury found the terminally ill 57-year-old guilty on two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and one count of committing an act of indecency.
The charges against Dick all related to the woman Nantahkhum kept as a slave.
In 2007 Nantahkhum was a registered ''sole operator'' sex worker working from an apartment in Braddon.
A former client of hers who gave evidence and can't be named said Nantahkhum told him she was tired of sex work and wanted to employ someone else.
The victim, a former cosmetic saleswoman, decided to enter prostitution to help pay the mortgage on her family's rice field and put her son through school.
Her entry to the country in June 2007 was facilitated by Nantahkhum's sister and a tourism company, P&S International Tours Group, who put her on their books to secure a tourist visa.
P&S also arranged for the second sex worker to arrive in Australia shortly afterwards; both tourist visas forbade the holders from working during their stay.
The slavery victim was told she would be expected to service about three or four clients a day, and would be required to pay off a $45,000 debt, later negotiated down to $43,000.
But a damning ledger, maintained by the victim during her 11 months in Nantahkhum's employ and shown to the jury, told a different story.
Earnings would ostensibly be split between the ''house'' and the sex worker: if the client paid $150 for an hour, the victim earned $100 and Nantahkhum took $50. However, until the debt was covered, the victim's share - for example the $100 - would be counted against the debt, with the tally of clients and payments meticulously recorded.
An entry dated June 19 suggested the woman serviced 14 clients, paying off about $700 towards her debt.
The book showed the total debt was paid off in 3½ months; by that time she had serviced about 720 men and earned Nantahkhum tens of thousands of dollars.
The court also heard her passport was taken, she at first had no key to the apartment and in the first few months was rarely allowed out - and only with permission and an escort.
During his own trial, Dick said he acted as a ''minder'' or ''caretaker'' when Nantahkhum was away.
But the jury found he also sexually assaulted the victim and on one occasion penetrated her with a sex toy against her will. The victim and the second sex worker, who also cannot be named, left Nantahkhum's employ in 2008. By this time they had long overstayed their tourist visas, and they were subsequently detained.
Nantahkhum is due back in court for a sentencing hearing next month.