A Thai sex worker who was spat on and bruised by Sydney clients was told by the woman she lived with to "just put up with it", a jury has heard.
Rungnapha Kanbut, 57, is on trial in the NSW District Court after pleading not guilty to six charges including intentionally possessing a slave and dealing with the proceeds of crime. Kanbut allegedly told two Thai women they each had a $45,000 debt to pay off, and would do so through their sex work, after they arrived in Sydney and were taken to live with her in 2004 and 2005 respectively.
The first female complainant on Friday, through a Thai interpreter, said clients "quite often" spat on her and caused her bruises and that she told "Rung" about the ill-treatment. The woman, under questioning from crown prosecutor Peter Neil SC, said that Kanbut's response was "to take certain medicines, to just put up with it until the time was up and to just keep the customer".