A former Canberra brothel operator allegedly raped multiple women by allegedly telling them they had to engage in training with him before they could begin work, a jury has heard.
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Bradley Lester Grey, 54, is on trial in the ACT Supreme Court and is facing 27 charges against nine alleged victims, including 16 counts of rape and 10 counts of performing an act of indecency.
Mr Grey has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The jury heard how Mr Grey allegedly approached a woman in South Africa online and convinced her to come to Australia to work in his business, which he told her focussed on "the girlfriend experience".
The woman, who was in significant financial difficulty, decided to come to Australia because she believed she wouldn't have to provide sexual intercourse to clients.
The woman eventually ended up in Sydney, where Mr Grey picked her up and drove her to Mitchell, where he operated Mitchell Mistresses.
Mr Grey then allegedly told her to put lingerie on and he took photographs of her to build her online profile.
He then allegedly told her to massage him while he lay naked on a bed and masturbated. Later he allegedly performed sex acts on her.
Prosecutor Trent Hickey told the jury the woman felt "frozen" and that she had been vulnerable due to her financial situation.
Mr Hickey said Mr Grey had a tendency to coerce women to perform training on him in order to get a job as a sex worker and that he abused his position for his own sexual gratification.
Allegedly forcing the women to perform sex acts on him and reciprocating those acts as a condition of gaining employment negated any consent, Mr Hickey said.
Many of the allegations told to the jury by Mr Hickey contained similar features.
Many of the women saw ads for sex worker positions on Gumtree or Craigslist and Mr Grey allegedly told them they could earn up to $7000 a week.
Mr Grey then allegedly told the women they needed to participate in training by massaging him or performing oral sex on him.
He allegedly performed oral sex on some of the women and raped them, saying he needed to show them how to pleasure a female client.
Many of the women reported feeling they had no choice but to go along with what Mr Grey allegedly told them to do, otherwise they would not get the job and were financially desperate.
Mr Grey also allegedly did not use a condom in some of the situations, which is illegal in an ACT brothel.
Defence barrister Beth Morrisroe asked the jury to put aside any prejudices they might hold about the sex work industry and said it was not the court's responsibility to determine questions of morality.
She said Mr Grey conducted the training as part of operating a business.
"If this was any industry other than the sex industry, would we be here?" Ms Morrisroe asked the jury.
She added none of the women complained when the incidents happened between 2015 and 2017, and none went to police until later.
The trial continues.