Bangkok’s Criminal Court jailed a mother for 7½ years after convicting her of trafficking her 12-year-old daughter to Japan for prostitution. The girl’s escape exposed the abuse, leading to the woman’s arrest in Taiwan, extradition and conviction.
A Bangkok court has jailed a Thai mother for seven years and six months after finding she trafficked her 12-year-old daughter to Japan and forced her into prostitution, bringing to a close one of the country’s most disturbing recent child exploitation cases. The Criminal Court heard how the girl escaped from a Tokyo sex massage parlour and sought help from Japanese immigration officials, triggering an international investigation that led to her mother’s arrest in Taiwan, extradition to Thailand and conviction on multiple human trafficking charges in a landmark judgment exposing a shocking betrayal by a parent.
The Criminal Court on Monday sentenced a 30-year-old mother from Phetchabun to seven years and six months in prison after convicting her of forcing her 12-year-old daughter into prostitution in Japan.
The woman, publicly identified only as Lucksana or ‘Preaw’, was found guilty of human trafficking, procuring a child for sexual exploitation and related prostitution offences. Judges initially imposed a combined prison sentence of 15 years. However, they reduced the punishment by half after she pleaded guilty during the proceedings.
The judgment was delivered in Courtroom 905 at the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in case KM16/2569. Prosecutors from the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office for Human Trafficking Cases 3 brought charges under the Criminal Code, the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act and related legislation.
Court details trafficking convictions before halving prison sentence after mother’s guilty plea in case
The court convicted the defendant of conspiracy to commit human trafficking, transporting a child for sexual exploitation and procuring a child for prostitution. The judges ruled the offences justified substantial prison terms because they involved the organised sexual exploitation of a minor.
The court imposed five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit human trafficking. In addition, judges sentenced the defendant to 10 years for procuring or assisting another person’s prostitution.
Applying Section 91 of the Criminal Code, the court adopted the most severe applicable punishment. Nevertheless, the defendant’s confession was accepted as a mitigating circumstance. As a result, the overall sentence was reduced from 15 years to seven years and six months. The court also ordered the confiscation of a mobile phone linked to the offences.
According to the judgment, the crimes took place between June and September last year. The defendant took her daughter, then aged 12, to Japan, claiming they were travelling as tourists. Instead, she delivered the girl to the owner of a massage parlour in Tokyo.
Girl escapes Tokyo sex massage parlour before mother is arrested in Taiwan and extradited to Thailand
The court found the establishment also offered sexual services. There, the child was forced into prostitution while her mother remained in Japan. Shortly afterwards, the defendant travelled on to Taiwan, leaving her daughter behind.
The victim remained at the Tokyo massage parlour for several months. Eventually, she escaped and sought help from the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau in mid-September.
Mother of Thai girl sold to a Tokyo brothel is held by human trafficking police at Suvarnabhumi Airport
Thai Girl 12 trafficked in June to Japan by mother for brothel work in Tokyo sought help from police to go home
Japanese officials immediately placed the girl under protection. She was later transferred into the care of the Pavena Hongsakun Foundation for Children and Women in Thailand. Since then, she has remained under the foundation’s protection while the criminal proceedings continued.
In parallel, investigators traced the defendant to Taiwan. Authorities arrested her in New Taipei City in November for overstaying. Subsequently, she was extradited to Thailand in December to stand trial.
Before sentencing, judges found she had no previous criminal convictions. Records also showed she had worked overseas as a masseuse, earning between 50,000 and 80,000 baht per trip. During the proceedings, she admitted every charge. Consequently, the court reduced the sentence but ordered immediate imprisonment. The victim remains under the protection of the Pavena Hongsakun Foundation.
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