Vancouver
human
trafficker
sentenced
to
15
months
jail
Defendant
lured
women
from
China
to
work
as
prostitutes
in
B.C.
Neal
Hall,
Vancouver
Sun
Published: Wednesday,
April
23,
2008
VANCOUVER - A man convicted of smuggling Chinese women into Canada to work as prostitutes was sentenced today to 15 months in jail.
Wai Chi (Michael) Ng was previously convicted on five criminal counts. He was sentenced in Vancouver provincial court to nine months in jail on two charges of falsifying immigration documents, six months for human smuggling, an additional six months for procuring sexual intercourse and one month for running a bawdy house. The total sentence was 15 months.
The 45-year-old was the first Canadian charged with human trafficking under the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was introduced in 2002, but he was acquitted on that charge but was convicted of human smuggling. The court also dismissed charges against Ng of living off the avails of prostitution and assault with a weapon.
The theory of federal prosecutor Peter LaPrairie at trial was that Ng was bringing women from China to work at his King City massage parlour on Kingsway as virtual sex slaves. LaPrairie had asked Judge Malcolm MacLean to impose a five-year prison sentence, while defence lawyer Michael Klein asked for a fine and a conditional sentence to be served under house arrest.
The trial heard testimony from women who said Ng brought them to Canada on promises of waitressing jobs, but put them to work as prostitutes in his East Vancouver massage parlour.
"I absolutely did not want to be a prostitute," one woman testified through a Cantonese interpreter.
The small Chinese woman, in her early 20s, participated in a phony marriage with the son of a woman working in the massage parlour at 2263 Kingsway, as a way to enter Canada in April, 2004. She testified the marriage was arranged by Ng, who promised her a job as a waitress earning $1,500 a month. The woman said she had fallen in love with the man brought to China for her to marry in 2003, but realized before leaving China that he didn't love her. She said her sister-in-law also worked in the massage parlour.
She testified that after meeting Ng in China, she became his mistress and came to Canada on false documents. Cross-examined by Ng's defence lawyer, the woman said she decided to come to Canada after her sister-in-law confessed to her in China that she was prostituting herself.
On May 10, 2004, after prostituting herself for 10 days, she convinced one of her customers to help her reach the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver because she wanted to get another passport and return to China. When she went the consular office it was closed. She called her sister-in-law, who told her to return to the massage parlour. She returned the next day and Ng confronted her and demanded $9,500 from her, she said. He was also demanding money from her sister-in-law and both women testified that Ng became angry at their reluctance and attempted to throw the sister-in-law out onto the street. When she resisted Ng attacked her, knocked her to the ground, and choked her, the witness said. The two fled the massage parlour and police were called to investigate the assault.
