3 women jailed for luring women to prostitution in South Africa

The lawsuit said the defendants, Jiraporn Butanai, 32, Bang-on Sibbold, 35, and Wanpen Phromthat, 32, convinced Ying and Noi (not their real names) that working in a beer bar in South Africa would yield lucrative incomes and asked the pair to pay them Bt30,000 for expenses to arrange a trip to South Africa.

On arrival in the African country, the three women detained Ying and Noi and forced them to provide sexual services on an average of four customers per day. The two women eventually escaped and went for help at the Thai Embassy. This led to the arrest of Jiraporn in Chon Buri and the arrest of the other two defendants in Rayong, the lawsuit stated.

The court found the three women guilty as charged and initially sentenced each to a 10-year jail term. However, since their confessions were useful to the case, the court lowered the sentence to seven years and six months and ordered them to pay Bt300,000 in compensation to the victims.