Tenancy agreement cited at illegal brothel hearing
A woman being prosecuted over allegations of running an illegal brothel says another woman held a tenancy agreement for the Phillipstown property at the time.
Fan Jiang gave evidence when the hearing continued at the Christchurch District Court today, repeatedly saying the detailed questions should be put to the other woman, who was from Thailand.
Jiang faces charges of contravening the Christchurch City Council Plan by operating a business without a resource consent, and operating a brothel outside the permitted area specified by the council’s bylaw.
The council finished presenting its case today to Judge Craig Thompson. The hearing began in June, but was adjourned part-way through the council case because of illness.
Defence counsel Christopher Persson asked Jiang to describe the uses of the various rooms of a plan of the property at 10A England Street.
She described the various rooms but said some questions needed to be put to the Thai girl who rented the place.
The tenancy agreement had been signed in 2013, and the Thai woman had stayed until after a search in April 2014 which resulted in the Christchurch City Council prosecution.
Jiang said she and her husband would sometimes stay in one of the rooms at the house. They would stay one or two nights a week and stayed longer when their house was having earthquake repairs.
A council official had previously said that Jiang said she was only the landlord at the property.
Questioned by Mr Persson, Jiang said she knew what the girls were doing, who stayed at the house.
“Some of the girls were working,” she said.
“Do you know what sort of work they were doing?” Mr Persson asked.
“They do services with customers,” she replied, with the help of a translator for Mandarin Chinese.
The customers were men, she said.
She said she had “not much” to do with the girls at the address in 2013.
The hearing is continuing.
Category: Focus
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Connect
Connect with us via: