Sunday's Miriama Kamo spoke with Lucy, still a teenager, about a harrowing case of sex slavery.
It’s the warm after the wet, Lucy’s* shoes sink into the mushy grass pats, made richer by the chicken poo. It’s everywhere. But Lucy’s happy. Today’s a good day.
She’ll collect nearly 600 eggs, her family’s main source of income. In an economy plagued with food stress, eggs are gold.
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She introduces me to her goat – Stella, ‘‘she’s been healing for me,” she explains as Stella nuzzles around her legs.
Nineteen-year-old Lucy is trying to heal, to recover from the trauma she experienced at the hands of someone she trusted.
Lucy watched the man who sold her for sex be sentenced in the High Court at Whangārei in June 2021.
“I wasn’t meant to be in the courtroom but I was anyways.” I ask her why it was important for her to be there. “To know that he’s not going to do it to anyone else.”
Lucy was 15. The offender was 35. After months of raping her, he then sold Lucy to men who paid $100 - $200 to have sex with her.
Like Lucy, the offender has name suppression. He was introduced to Lucy’s family by her older sister. Over weeks and months he ingratiated his way into their family life and home. He took Lucy and her siblings on outings, and became like a favourite uncle.
He soon moved into the bedroom next to Lucy. At the same time, Lucy’s mental health was suffering. The offender recognised her vulnerability. He suggested that he sleep on the floor in her bedroom to "keep an eye on her".
Lucy’s parents, burdened with their own challenges, gratefully accepted his largesse. It would be easy to cast judgement and label her parents naive. But they never imagined he’d rape their daughter.
“I never said anything because I was ashamed and scared," Lucy told me, "I didn’t want anyone to think less of me.”
One day, after school, the offender told Lucy he’d put her on a dating site.
The ad read: Young couple looking for an older gent to have sex with young girlfriend; rewards or cash could help.
Nine men answered the ad – and four went on to have sex with Lucy. One was a local businessman, another a church pastor. The youngest was 37, the oldest 67. At 15, Lucy was a minor, under the age of consent.
“Did you feel like a slave?” I ask Lucy.
“Yes”, she replies, “I felt like I had to do what they say otherwise I would be punished.”
'Classic case'
Lucy’s story is a “classic case” of sexual exploitation in Aotearoa, says researcher and policy adviser Natalie Thorburn.
That, she explained, is “when somebody forces or coerces somebody else to sell sex and have somebody else profit from it”.
Sexual exploitation can also be described as ‘trafficking’ and ‘sex slavery’. In other words, this is not prostitution.
“This is not an industrial issue, this is not a sex work issue,” explains Thorburn, the country’s only published researcher focused on sexual exploitation.
Thorburn was unsurprised to read of Lucy’s case, “because it mirrors the stories of so many that I’ve heard where it’s been a proximal family member".
"Sex, money, coercion, and her suffering because of it. And that’s just too common a story to be surprised by for me now.”
After Lucy’s older sister became suspicious, the offender was reported to the police. Under section 98AA of the Crimes Act he was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison. The other four men received home detention and a fine.
“They did get a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket,” says Thorburn.
Cases of sexual exploitation rarely go to court and when they do the toughest penalties are rarely used, explains Thorburn. She would like to see domestic sexual exploitation recognised in the Government’s plans for a Modern Slavery Act.
““I felt like I had to do what they say otherwise I would be punished.”
In March 2021 the Government announced an action plan for legislation which would tackle slavery in business supply chains. It focuses on migrant labour, putting the onus on businesses to take action if they become aware of modern slavery or worker exploitation.
And large organisations will be required to undertake due diligence to prevent, mitigate and remedy modern slavery and worker exploitation.
Thorburn says this proposed legislation will help protect migrant workers who typically tend to be men. But it doesn’t go far enough to protect victims of sexual exploitation who are more likely to be women.
Immigration Minister Michael Wood, who is in charge of ushering the new legislation through, rejects Thorburn’s premise.
“Much of the evidence about modern slavery and international supply chains is that very often women are caught up in them [too],” he says.
Thorburn points out that “in most equivalent countries there is a streamlined pathway for people to follow when they’ve been sexually exploited and, here, we just don’t have that”.
She says recognising domestic sexual exploitation in a Modern Slavery Act would give urgency to identifying and stopping this kind of offending.
Although Wood calls it “abhorrent", he says: “The type of behaviour you’re talking about is criminal behaviour and requires the focus of agencies including the police, and so it is a slightly different category.”
Wood has come under fire for delays in introducing the proposed legislation. There’s been an action plan, an advisory group, a discussion document – and, two years later, still no Modern Slavery Act. He rejects that it’s been deprioritised under new Government austerity measures. The Minister says he hopes, “to have clarity in the coming months.”
At Lucy’s favourite place, the beach, we stand chatting on the soft sand while the brisk wind whips round us. Lucy is slowly healing and learning to live with her past.
The 19-year-old dreams of being a nurse. Why? So she can help others when they’re at their most vulnerable.
“Yeah, I’ve been in vulnerable positions myself,” she says.
An understatement for a young woman whose story reflects the reality of other sexual exploitation survivors across Aotearoa.
*Lucy is not her real name.
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