A Queensland sex worker has revealed how she escaped from a terrifying trafficking ordeal after being held captive for a year.
Ava Jade, a Polynesian based in Brisbane, was entrapped by a man who had offered to hire her as his assistant before seizing an opportunity to escape after being moved to an apartment in Woolloongabba.
Ms Jade, who was 18 at the time, was working as a dancer in a strip club when a male client invited her to work privately for him.
She was paid $1,000 to ‘walk around topless’ and subsequently entered a ‘sugar daddy’ arrangement where she would be paid to spend time with him.
He later told Ms Jade he had a business opportunity she might be interested in and arranged a meeting with a friend.
‘The business opportunity was to work with the friend as his assistant,’ Ms Jade explained.
‘He took me back to his house in Capalaba and I was made to sleep with people for money for him, not me.’
Ms Jade said she was forced to have sex with multiple clients a day and was only given enough money to buy groceries.
Ava Jade (pictured), a Polynesian based in Brisbane, was trafficked and held captive for a year
Ms Jade said she was forced to have sex with multiple clients a day
Explaining why it took her so long to leave, she said she was a victim of coercive control, physical abuse and sexual assault.
The man also threatened to kill Ms Jade and her family if she tried to leave.
Six months after being taken to the Capalaba property, the trafficker began to procure more girls to work for him.
He rented a new property in Woolloongabba and Ms Jade was entrusted to live there on her own while he remained primarily in the previous apartment.
‘There were still lots of precautions he would take before and after every booking,’ she said.
‘I would have to FaceTime him and show him the money.’
One of Ms Jade’s clients began giving her extra money without the trafficker’s knowledge, and after ten months she saved $1,000.
In the lead-up to Ms Jade escaping, her abuser began checking in on her less and less, giving her the opportunity to leave.
Ava Jade’s abuser threatened to kill her and her family if she tried to escape
‘The day I left, he didn’t call before or after a booking, so I took this as I’m f***ing leaving,’ she said.
She ‘took the cash’ and left the phone he had given her, after taking her phone, there ‘so he couldn’t track me’.
‘I moved back to my hometown because I was really afraid he was going to find me,’ she said.
Ms Jade said she reported her abuser to the police, but they ‘weren’t very helpful’.
‘But there wasn’t a lot that could be done,’ she admitted.
‘He didn’t give me his real name, he had burner phones and all his accounts on social media were fake and used different IP addresses.’
‘I gave the police the address where I was being pimped from and there was no one there,’ she added.
Ms Jade, who is now a female escort, said she wanted to speak out and tell her story to help raise awareness for vulnerable girls working in the industry.
