Mr Trevor McIvor and his wife, Ms Kanokporn Tanuchit, owned and managed a brothel in Fairfield, Sydney between 2004 to 2006. Over this time, Mr McIvor and Ms Tanuchit recruited five women from Thailand to work in the brothel and subjected each of the women to heinous treatment. In 2010 they were convicted of slavery offences under section 270.3 of the Criminal Code.
During their combined trail in 2008, the Court heard that Mr McIvor and Ms Tanuchit had forced the victims to work for up to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, prohibited them from refusing customer requests including unprotected sex, locked them up in rooms under the brothel or in the offenders house and confiscated their passports, mobiles and other personal belongings.
Mr McIvor and Ms Tanuchit were each found guilty of five offences for intentionally possessing a slave and five offences for intentionally exercising over a slave, the power attaching to the right of ownership namely the power to use, contrary to s 270.3(1)(a) of the Criminal Code. Mr McIvor was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven years and six months. Ms Tanuchit was sentenced to eleven years imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven years.
Both Mr McIvor and Ms Tanuchit appealed their convictions on the basis that the trial judge gave the jury incorrect and confusing directions in relation to the fault element of the offence. In 2009, the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal upheld the appeals, quashed the convictions and ordered a new trial. Due to the success of their conviction appeals, their appeals on sentence were not heard.
Following a retrial in 2010, Mr McIvor and Ms Tanuchit were again each found guilty on all counts. Mr McIvor was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven years and six months. Ms Tanuchit was also sentenced to twelve years imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven years. The initial convictions were the first convictions for slavery in New South Wales.
Both appealed their retrial sentences, however these appeals were unsuccessful.