12-year-old sold to pay off debts

Australian mother sold her daughter for sex to repay her home loan

A woman sold her 12-year-old daughter for sex to pay off her home loan, in Tasmania.

According to the Mercury, the mother, who belongs to Glenorchy in Tasmania, pleaded guilty in the Hobart Supreme Court, to charges of unlawfully procuring a child, being a commercial operator of sex business and receiving fees for sexual services of a child, News.com.au reported.

Daryl Coates, Crown Prosecutor, told the court that the 41 year-old woman and Gary John Devine had agreed on selling the little girl for sex because the woman had to pay off her home loan and she was short on cash.

Once they had agreed on the sale, an advertisement was placed in The Mercury the next day offering the girl as "Angela, 18, new in town".

The mother then, booked a room at the Midcity Hotel and gave a key to Devine, who sold the girl to more than 100 men over a four-week period in August and September last year. She was sold for 100 dollars for half-an-hour and an extra 50 dollars for men who did not want to use a condom. The court heard the girl made 2000 dollars a day.

At the time the girl and another younger sister were under protective orders. The order was due to end in October but she was allowed to return to her mother''s care in June.

Coates said the mother was asked by her older 15-year daughter where the 12-year-old was, but the woman did not reveal anything initially.

The woman was paying 180-dollar per fortnight off her home loan that she had received from the Commonwealth Bank. She had re-drawn on the loan about five years ago, but spent the money on drugs instead.

The money made off the prostitution was also spent on drugs.

The sex racket continued at the woman''s house afterwards. The girl has now been diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases including genital warts and chlamydia.

After initially denying everything, the mother accepted her crime when she was charged in February this year.

The woman''s defence lawyer Rochelle Mainwaring said the crimes were "horrendous" and her client was struggling to comprehend what she had done.

Justice Peter Evans adjourned the sentencing until Friday.