No jail for housewife who operated brothel

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This article was published 16/02/2012 (5360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg housewife who claims she opened a brothel to provide a safe haven for sex trade workers has been spared a jail sentence.

The 48-year-old married mother of two teens — known to her customers as “Sinful Sydnee” — spent years working as a leather-clad dominatrix out of her cosy, two-storey Wolseley home. She pleaded guilty last year to the rare charge of keeping a common bawdy house. Similar charges against her husband were dropped as part of the plea deal.

Justice officials say the facts of this case make it one-of-a-kind. Her real name is under a court-ordered publication ban to protect her children.

The woman returned to court for sentencing Wednesday and was given three years of probation and a $2,000 fine. The Crown had been seeking a jail term but conceded it could be served conditionally in the community.

Queen’s Bench Justice Deborah McCawley said she believed the woman’s motives were genuine, especially since Canadian prostitution laws are very much a source of ongoing debate and controversy.

“I agree general deterrence and denunciation are considerations in this rather unusual case, however, it is complicated by the fact that the constitutional validity of the law is in question and the reasons that (the accused) asserts she chose to break the law appear to be genuine,” said McCawley.

The woman is now living in Vancouver, where she is volunteering with an organization that helps sex-trade workers get off the streets, court was told. She is living apart from her husband, who has custody of their now-15-year-old daughter. Their 21-year-old son lives on his own.

Police arrested the woman in June 2009 following an extensive investigation that began with a tip and included several days and nights of surveillance of the home. Police learned the woman had been running her sex-for-cash business since at least 2007, employing at least a dozen young adult women and even one 18-year-old man to offer up various kinky services to customers. One of the rooms in the house had been transformed into a storage facility for chains, whips, paddles and other sex toys used in what was clearly a “family affair,” court was told.

More alarming was the fact the woman’s then-11-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son were also living in the home and were apparently aware of their mother’s profession.

“Her son knew his mother to be a pimp, a madam of a bawdy house. He provided a full picture of what was happening inside,” Crown attorney Michael Desautels told court.

Defence lawyer Evan Roitenberg told court his client firmly believed she was providing a safe alternative for young people who wanted to work in the sex trade — something she herself had dreamed about since she was a teenager. By keeping them off the streets and screening all clients, the woman remains adamant she wasn’t harming anyone.