Read more at The New Zealand Herald…

Chinese students lured to become sex workers
By Lincoln Tan

Sex workers are using a bilingual sex information leaflet to recruit international students and other young Chinese women into the industry.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a 20-year-old Chinese international student told the Weekend Herald she decided to become a sex worker after being given the Working in New Zealand leaflet, which is produced by the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective.

“It is not easy for international students to find employment in New Zealand, and reading the brochure made me feel less afraid of getting into sex work,” she said in Mandarin.

Older, more experienced prostitutes hand the booklets to young Chinese women.

The brochure spells out, in Chinese and English, exactly how to start working in the sex industry – including advice on what to wear, getting started, how to select a working name and how to perform sex tricks.

“Young Asian girls are being recruited by older sex workers, who use us to get new customers, and work with them to provide a bi-double service to make more money,” she said.

Working privately from a North Shore City suburb, the business student, who came to New Zealand on a student permit, said she knew of at least three other Chinese students – not all on student permits – who turned to sex work after receiving the leaflets. The brochures are readily available for pickup at the reception counter at the collective’s Auckland office in Karangahape Rd, but they are also distributed by its volunteers and staff.

A wife and escort haggle over services paid. What’s next? Read more at Sunday News…

Pro Athlete’s Wife Disputes Hooker Bill
By JONATHAN MARSHALL

A HIGH-profile sportsman’s wife threatened $1200-an-hour prostitute and stripper Lisa Lewis with a Disputes Tribunal case to recover thousands of dollars her husband paid her.

Sunday News obtained a series of communications between Hamilton-based Lewis and the sports star’s wife – who wanted $3000 back from the former naked TV newsreader and celebrity streaker.

“I need you to repay back the money my husband gave you,” the man’s wife said in a text message sent on Tuesday evening.

“I am giving u the chance to do the decent thing first. We have 6 young children to support and we need that money repayed (sic).”

In a voice message left on Lewis’ cellphone, the wife said: “You didn’t actually provide him with any services. We can look at going to the Small Claims Court or something like that because really you need to repay it.”

Sunday News agreed not to identify the man – a controversial figure over his sporting career – after his family said the story would affect his children.

Lewis refused to comment, but sources close to the mother-of-one said the sportsman was a regular client over three months and met her for one-hour bookings at a Hamilton motor inn.

Sunday News understands Lewis denies accepting thousands of dollars without providing the man a service. “Because of (the man’s) regular visits this was verification there was no problems with the services provided, hence the continuous re-visits,” Lewis said in a text message to the wife.

Taekwondo Olympic hopeful appears to have been too clever by a half.  Read the whole story at Yahoo News…

Olympian Hoped Brothel Would Fund 2012 Bid

A New Zealand olympian could be taken to court after it emerged he opened up a brothel to fund his London 2012 Games campaign.

Logan Campbell, a taekwondo competitor, started up the business in Auckland with his friend, Hugo Phillips, earlier this year and wanted to use the profits to help him get to London in three years time.

Campbell, 23, hoped to raise NZ$300,000 from what he calls a “high-class gentleman’s club” so his parents would not be burdened with the cost and he could concentrate on training.

However, the New Zealand Olympic Committee have now written to Campbell demanding he cut the link between his business and his Olympic campaign or face legal action.

NZOC secretary general Barry Maister said he did not want his country’s sport to be associated with Campbell’s trade.

“Based on the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect, we would place your actions as totally inconsistent with these values,” Maister said in a letter to Campbell.

“Your open solicitation of ‘clients’ for your ‘business’ while using the Olympic or Olympian connection must cease immediately, or the NZOC will be forced to consider taking legal action against you.”

A neat business opportunity for the adventurous! Read more at The New Zealand Herald…

Wellington brothel up for sale

A Wellington building housing the city’s first licensed brothel is up for sale at auction, with a valuation of $1,625,000.

Il-Bordello, on Vivian Street, was the first legal brothel to open in the capital after the passing of the Prostitution Law Reform Bill in 2003.

Bayleys said the stand-alone two level commercial building would be auctioned on August 20.

Il-Bordello’s operators B and M Entertainment recently renewed the property’s lease for six years.

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The building has 11 bedroom suites, some with spa baths.

It’s dangerous out there for both the men and the women in the field.  Read more at The New Zealand Herald…

Prostitute murder accused may be named

A District Court judge will decide this afternoon whether to lift name suppression for an Auckland man charged with murdering a Thai sex worker.

The 47-year-old computer programmer is charged with the murder of 48-year-old Nuttidar Vaikaew, whose body was found at a house in Western Springs, west of the city centre, on May 12.

Police believe that Miss Vaikaew, known to her clients as “Sky”, was slain on April 17.

Name suppression was granted until today after his lawyer Nicholas Wintour argued the accused was at a high risk of committing suicide and that releasing his name would increase that risk.

But crown prosecutor Rachael Reed said today it appeared the man was no longer a suicide risk and that there was no reason for name suppression to continue.

Read the whole sad tale at The New Zealand Herald…

Prostitute jailed for fraud

He was a vulnerable 72-year-old, unable even to use an ATM. She was an opportunistic prostitute, who had an eye for new clothes and jewelery, and wanted to safeguard her children’s future.

The Tauranga District Court heard this week that Mary Regina Birch, 46, of Papamoa, was paid by the man for sex and then stole his life savings of more than $105,000.

The man, also from Papamoa, committed suicide in February.

Crown prosecutor Hayley Booth said there was no doubt Birch’s actions had contributed to the elderly man’s decision to take his life.

According to the court summary of facts, Birch had seen her client twice in February 2008, soon after he had separated from his wife. Later that month she moved into his home, saying she had nowhere else to live.

He lent her his car and his Kiwibank card and PIN number so she could buy groceries.

In March last year Birch used his bank card to make nearly 50 transactions, totalling $18,000.

Realising his money was vanishing, the man challenged her and locked up his wallet and new card in a safe. Birch allayed his fears by saying she was expecting $30,000 from an Employment Court case and she would pay him back.

In May, despite the man’s protests, Birch’s two teenage children and a friend moved into his home. He had become so wary of her at this stage that he was hiding his food and valuables.

The man demanded Birch leave his home, but she only relented when he agreed to pay for a removal truck, a deposit and the first period of rent for her new house.

Soon after moving out she forged his signature and cashed one of his cheques for $85,000. She had earlier used his chequebook to transfer $1500 into her account.

When police executed a search warrant of her home in August, they found she had gone on a spending spree. On the front lawn was a $16,000 Mazda, and inside almost everything was new – furniture, whiteware, electrical appliances, and a wardrobe of clothes. Receipts were also found showing jewellery purchases.

After putting $55,000 in term deposits and in trust accounts under her children’s names, Birch had spent all of the $105,402 she had taken from the man’s savings.

Ms Booth told the court of a vulnerable old man, not even able to use his bank card, who had relied on his wife to manage his financial affairs.

Birch, who had admitted 48 counts of fraudulently using a document for pecuniary advantage and one of money laundering, was sentenced to three years and four months in jail.

Read the whole story at Stuff.co.nz…

Olympian uses brothel for fundraising
By Tony Wall

Logan Campbell had a dilemma. The Beijing Olympian’s funding had dried up and he was in danger of missing the London Olympics in 2012.

So the 23-year-old came up with an outrageous plan – he traded his taekwondo outfit for a sharp suit and became a pimp.

Campbell and business partner Hugo Phillips, 20, last week launched a “high-class gentleman’s club” (read brothel) near Auckland’s infamous K Rd, and Campbell hopes to get to London off the earnings of prostitution.

He finished in the top 16 in the featherweight division at Beijing, after losing his first match against reigning world champion Yu-Chi Sung, of Taiwan, who finished with the bronze medal.

Campbell said Sung is a “movie star” in his home country and “never has to worry about funding”.

Campbell’s Beijing campaign cost about $150,000 in the preceding years, most of it eaten up by travel costs as he competed at events around the world. Most of the money came from his parents his father, Max, an auctioneer, worked two jobs to get his son to the Olympics. Campbell said he was sick of being a burden on his parents.

He received a $15,000 “performance enhancement grant” from government sports funding body Sparc for finishing in the top 16 at Beijing, but Taekwondo New Zealand (TNZ) has suspended the funding because Campbell has not been competing.

Campbell’s plan is to take a couple of years off, hopefully earn up to $300,000 from the brothel, and launch his London bid in 2011. He believes with that kind of money behind him, he will be a serious medal prospect.

But his unorthodox fundraising plan has not gone down well with his national body.

TNZ funding manager John Schofield said that although it would not affect his membership, it would be taken into account when considering him for international selection.

“Selection takes into account not just performance but also the athlete’s ability to serve as an example to the youth of the country.”

Dominatrix, escort, street worker – she’s done them all.

In fact Rachel Francis was so good she eventually ran her own brothel. As a prostitute for nearly 25 years, the former lady of the night has seen nearly everything there is to see in New Zealand’s sex industry. It’s a world many of us are curious about, but will never experience.

Rachel takes 20/20’s Beth Roche behind the scenes of some of the country’s most exclusive brothels, exposing the secret lives of our neighbourhoods. Offering everything from her take on decriminalising prostitution, to what men really want in bed, Rachel Francis tells it like it is.

Watch the video report at 20/20 News in New Zealand.

A tragic final chapter to a client-provider relationship.  Read the whole story at The New Zealand Herald…

Prostitute who killed lover gets minimum 10 years

A former sex worker who stabbed her lover in the shower, leaving him to bleed to death, after an argument about him continuing to visit prostitutes, was today jailed for life with a minimum non-parole term of 10 years.

Dionne Liza Neale, 39, was found guilty by a High Court jury in Auckland on May 15 of murdering print production manager Reece John Shadbolt, 38, in February 2007.

She was also found guilty of causing intentional damage to his car.

Sentencing Neale, Justice Graham Lang said she had caused havoc and disaster to the Shadbolt family.

“This is also a disaster and tragedy for you,” he told Neale.

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During the four-week trial, which started on April 20, the court heard the pair met in Mustangs Gentlemen’s Club, where Neale was working as a prostitute.

Crown prosecutor Kevin Glubb said the relationship developed but they broke up some time later when a business they had invested in collapsed.

They remained in an on-again, off-again relationship and Neale helped Mr Shadbolt move into his new apartment in 2007.

Shortly after, she visited and demanded to know if he had been visiting prostitutes, Mr Glubb said.

He finally admitted he was.

On the morning of February 6, Waitangi Day, Neale returned to his apartment.

They had a cup of tea together, then while Mr Shadbolt was taking a shower she took a knife and stabbed him in the chest, Mr Glubb said.

Read the whole story at New Zealand’s Yahoo Extra…

Economic downturn hits sex workers

Even the oldest profession has been hit by the economic downturn, with customers less willing to pay large sums for escort services and many seeking cut-price “specials”, says one Nelson brothel.

The manager of Sub Rosa, who would only be identified as Shaniqua, manages about five women and told the Nelson Mail they were as exposed to the economic downturn as everybody else.

“We might have more customers coming through the doors but they are less willing to pay money for longer sessions,” she said.

“Whereas before they would stay for an hour (for $200) now we have had to make 20-minute specials.”

She said this option, which cost $100, was increasingly popular, especially among tourists.

Prostitution was decriminalised in 2003 and legalisation had also boosted employment opportunities, she said.

“We have had a lot more women coming and asking to be involved. They don’t see it as a seedy place to work any more,” she said.

But one Nelson sex worker, who did not want to be named, was less keen on the changes as she wasn’t getting the jobs she used to.

“It might be people don’t have the money they used to but it used to be a nice industry to work in. Now there are so many people in it, you just have to look in the paper. Now everyone has unrealistic expectations. The fun has gone.”

Workers were offering more for less, she said.