Woman who ran illegal brothel disguised as massage parlour gets jail after sex worker lodges police report

SINGAPORE: A woman who ran an illegal brothel under the guise of a massage parlour was sentenced to 14 months' jail after one of her sex workers lodged a police report.

The police raided the unit along Carpenter Street and found a woman scantily clothed on top of a patron, and another patron leaving.

Mo Xuekui, 44, claimed trial to three charges of procuring a woman for prostitution, managing a brothel and living on immoral earnings.

She claimed that she was just a cashier and that she had engaged her four female workers as masseuses, but they provided sexual services without her knowledge.

According to a judgment made available on Tuesday (Nov 4), Mo approached a man in November 2021 and asked if he was interested in buying over a beauty parlour that was profitable.

The business operated under a sole proprietorship, Huixia.

The man agreed and paid S$25,000 (US$19,000). He then hired Mo for a monthly salary of S$2,500 to run the business, and Huixia signed a lease with the landlord for a monthly rent of S$5,395.

The man registered an additional company, Xiao Xue, with the same address at the unit in order to hire more foreign workers.

At trial, the prosecution said the complainant, referred to only as Ms X in court papers, arrived in Singapore in December 2021.

After completing her one-week COVID-19 isolation, she was told by Mo on her second day of work to provide sexual services. Mo also showed her a bottle of condoms.

Ms X testified that the sex workers were housed in the unit, and that Mo provided the contact of a "webmaster" who would help upload "sexy photographs" and the prices of Ms X's sexual services.

Ms X said she worked as a sex worker in the unit for about a month, informing Mo three days after starting work that she did not want to provide such services anymore.

However, she had to pay Mo S$4,500 in order to leave the job and therefore she continued working to earn the sum.

She said that Mo took a cut of S$50 from each S$150 fee she took from each customer.

The two men who were at the unit during the police raid testified in court that they were given sexual services and massages at the unit.

They said they found advertisements for the massages and sexual services on a website, with prices listed for each type of service.

During the raid on Feb 7, 2022, the police found a man having sex with one of the women. They seized a detergent container with condoms in it, as well as a two-page document with translated phrases.

The phrases listed in the document included questions like "Can we shower together?" and "Can kiss you?".

The police in their investigations also found texts between Mo and one of the sex workers, discussing whether to replace photos of the worker with sexier ones.

MO'S BARE DENIAL

At trial, Mo's defence was one of bare denial, said District Judge Wong Peck.

She claimed that she was an employee working as a cashier, earning S$2,000 per month. She said she stayed at her home in Bedok Reservoir Road and her job was to conduct interviews and orientation for new workers.

She admitted to preparing the two-page translated document, but said this was to enable workers to understand unreasonable requests by customers.

She denied knowing the existence of the container with condoms, and asserted that she had tried to warn the workers against providing sexual services in the house rules pasted at the unit.

However, when shown the house rules in court - which clearly did not show such a ruling, Mo dropped this assertion. Judge Wong said this was an attempt on Mo's part to embellish her evidence.

Mo claimed that she did not know that the workers were providing sexual services at the unit, as she worked part-time.

She also claimed that she had quarrelled with Ms X, and that Ms X was not telling the truth. She said Ms X came to work late on some occasions and found "small things" to pick quarrels with her.

JUDGE'S FINDINGS

The judge found Ms X to be "candid and credible", readily admitting that after her initial shock on hearing she was to provide sexual services, she did so as she needed money.

In contrast, Mo's testimony was inconsistent in several aspects, including how she came to know about the sale of Huixia, her collection of fees and the range of her job scope.

Judge Wong found that Mo's claim that she was only a cashier was untrue. She also found that the S$50 Mo collected was a cut from the payment for their sexual services.

Mo had two prior convictions for operating an unlicensed massage establishment in 2011 and 2015. She had also been previously convicted of employing a foreign employee without a work pass.

The prosecution sought 16 to 18 months' jail for Mo, saying Ms X had found out the truth only when she arrived in Singapore from China and was made to work even on days she felt unwell.

The judge found that Mo was "instrumental" to the existence of the illegal sex operation and there were four sex workers at the time.

Mo also made the sex workers pay different fees to continue their work, such as a management fee, an entrance fee and a deposit.

"It could be said that these sex workers needed to earn money so they were compelled to pay these fees to the accused," said the judge.

Mo is on bail pending appeal against her conviction and sentence.