Brothel manager hired 14-year-old: court

A Melbourne brothel manager has admitted she let a 14-year-old girl work as a prostitute but believed she was over 18.

The girl worked at the Pickwood Lodge brothel in Brunswick between March 11 and May 20, 2007, the Melbourne Magistrates Court has been told.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Brooke Sheers said the girl told brothel manager Janette Woods, 55, that she was 23 and gave a TAFE student card without a birth date as identification.

Woods told police she believed the girl was over 18 because she went to TAFE and said she had asked for more identification but the girl did not have any.

The 14-year-old was described in court as “living on the fringe” and having various personal difficulties.

Police discovered she was only 14 and working in a brothel when they went to an address where she and a friend had attempted suicide.

It was then they found receipts for services she had provided to Pickwood Lodge.

Woods, of Brookfield, pleaded guilty to 39 counts of allowing a child to take part in prostitution without taking reasonable steps to prove she was over 18. A further 78 charges were withdrawn by the crown.

Defence lawyer Tara Hartnett said Woods admitted she neglected to follow up the girl’s age and accepted “she never turned her mind to the matter again”.

“She accepts it was a matter she should’ve followed up. She didn’t,” Ms Hartnett said.

She said that while the offence was serious, Woods had no prior criminal history and asked that she receive a community-based order without conviction.

Ms Hartnett said Woods was a “battler” who married at 16 and raised two children as a single parent.

She had a stable work history and immediately resigned from her four-year employment at the brothel after the matter came to light.

Ms Hartnett said that in 1999 Woods was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had previously abused alcohol but had not relapsed.

She said her client had moved on with her life but it had been stressful.

Magistrate Kate Hawkins ordered Woods be assessed for a community-based order, agreeing it was within the range of an appropriate penalty.

The order is a supervised sentence in the community combining treatment and unpaid work.

Woods will be sentenced next week.

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