October 21, 2008 04:52am
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/200 ... story.html
Hairdresser lured Thai prostitutes to Coast
Melanie Pilling
October 21st, 2008
A GOLD Coast hairdresser forced two Thai women to work as prostitutes so he could collect the profits and repay $50,000 that he owed to loan sharks.
Keith William Dobie, 48, lured the two women to the Gold Coast with the promise of lucrative wages and luxury living conditions, the Southport District Court heard.
Instead, he paid them just $20 for entertaining up to five men a day.
In 2005, Dobie was in 'serious financial trouble' after buying his Currumbin hairdressing salon then paying twice for it to be repaired after it was damaged by floods, then a fire.
He borrowed the money from Gold Coast loan sharks and was indebted to the tune of $1200 a week.
Dobie was having trouble meeting the repayments and feared physical harm from the loan sharks, so he travelled to Thailand and arranged for a woman to accompany him back to the Gold Coast where she would live with him and work as a prostitute.
He later lured another woman to the Coast and she also worked as a prostitute.
The first day of Dobie's trial started yesterday when he faced two charges of people trafficking.
However, late yesterday, after the Crown had opened their case, he changed his plea to guilty and the jury was discharged.
Dobie will now be sentenced in Brisbane District Court on November 20. He faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.
Crown prosecutor Peter Flanagan, SC, told the court that Dobie arranged for the women's arrival in Australia in 2005 and 2006.
He paid for their passports and visas, air fares and accommodation.
Mr Flanagan said the women, who cannot be identified, had been told they could earn up to $600 a day, would live in a nice apartment near the beach and could work as much or as little as they pleased.
However, when the women arrived on the Gold Coast, Dobie pressured them to work and became abusive when they refused.
Mr Flanagan said Dobie pocketed the money from the sexual services provided by the women and gave them $20 a day for food and necessities.
Mr Flanagan said one of the women calculated that she had sex with up to 75 men in the three months she was on the Gold Coast, earning Dobie $11,500.
When she asked for her share, Dobie said she would have to wait.
The court was told the women asked to stop working many times but Dobie forced them to continue.
On one occasion, the court was told, Dobie allegedly locked one of the women in her room after she had refused to have sex with a customer.
Mr Flanagan said one of the women eventually left Dobie and moved in with a male friend after Dobie told her to have sex with three men at once.
The court was told Dobie later phoned the woman and told her 'she had work to do'.
"(He said) a loan shark was going to kill him with an axe unless she recommenced working as a sex worker," said Mr Flanagan.
Both women and a friend of Dobie who knew of the prostitution scheme have all been granted indemnity against prosecution.
Judge Leanne Clare refused bail and Dobie will remain in custody.
