Brothel bust on Jubilee Highway

A WOMAN soliciting sex services under the guise of a massage service at her Mount Gambier home has been convicted and fined $300.

Buala Rattanasuanchit, 54, appeared in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court pleading guilty to one charge of keeping a brothel.

The prosecution said police investigated after receiving information via a licensing enforcement branch.

At around 9.50pm on December 30, police attended the defendant’s Jubilee Highway address where they located “numerous items to suggest the home was being used as a brothel”.

“There were used tissues and condoms, one bedroom with two massage beds and bulk unused condoms and police also found lingerie and uniforms,” the prosecution said.

“Phone messages with specific details about sex acts for money had been left on the home phone.

“Two other females and two other males were present when police attended the address, but there was no sufficient evidence the two other women were involved.”

The defendant was cooperative when interviewed by police and said she worked alone and offered sexual services to her massage clients.

The court heard Ms Rattanasuanchit moved to Australia from Thailand in 1987 and became an Australian citizen in the mid 1990s.

“She has no prior history and this was her sole source of income and she accepts that what she did was wrong,” the defendant’s lawyer said.

Magistrate Teresa Anderson ordered Ms Rattanasuanchit pay a $300 fine plus court costs.