By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A part-owner of an illegal brothel in central Narre Warren has been given a somewhat happy ending at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 1 May.
Rebecca Qu, 27, a former Chinese national seeking Australian citizenship, was spared conviction after pleading guilty to recklessly operating as an unlicensed “sex work service-provider” at Nature Care Massage.
According to a police summary submitted to the court, men had been offered “extras” on top of their full-body massages at the Webb Street business district.
Female masseurs would offer to strip down and provide the service for tips of up to $60.
During a raid on the premises on 6 November 2014, police caught a masseur and a client ‘in the act’.
A defence lawyer told the court that the business had since closed; Qu was since working at a dried-seafood importing business and training as a childcare worker.
Qu was single, living with her mother and a permanent resident of Australia who arrived from China in 2007, the lawyer said.
Her progress would be jeopardised if she received a conviction, the court heard.
“She wants a future in Australia with her mother,” the lawyer said.
“Her goal is to work in the childcare industry and to be a productive member of the workforce.”
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said the offences aimed to deter sexual exploitation and criminal involvement in brothels.
There was also a need to ensure sex work didn’t operate in areas frequented by children, Mr Vandersteen said.
He noted Qu’s early guilty plea, her lack of prior or subsequent convictions and that she was nine years younger than her co-accused business partner.
Qu was fined $2500 – which could be converted to about 80 hours community work, Mr Vandersteen said.
An older co-accused, who also ran the business, was fined $2500 without conviction in 2016.
