Sex workers' row lands pair in jail

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There was trouble at The Dolls House, a Nelson strip club and brothel.

Ill-feeling and suspicion among the women who worked there led to threats, robbery, and now jail terms.

The second of these sentences was imposed in the Christchurch District Court yesterday by Judge David Saunders.

Alysha Hannake Howe, 21, and Samantha Jane Sloane were employed as strippers at The Dolls House.

Judge Saunders said the establishment appeared to be a strip parlour where sexual favours were obtained.

Howe was aggrieved about money going missing at the workplace, and Sloane was upset about texts that she believed a workmate had been sending to her mother in Christchurch, detailing her drug use.

As Judge Saunders commented in court, the problem with the texts was that they were true.

Sloane and Howe decided to confront the third woman, who also worked at The Dolls House.

Howe and Sloane met the woman at The Dolls House in March and, according to crown prosecutor Kathy Basire, the woman started to become concerned when they locked the door, turned the security camera off and cut the telephone lines.

They then robbed the woman of cash and her cellphone, and threatened to take her in a car to Christchurch, where they said the Mongrel Mob would deal with her.

The cellphone was later found in a caravan where Howe and Sloane were living at a Nelson motor camp. The money was also recovered.

The women were charged with robbery, and Howe also faced two separate drug charges. She was recently jailed for two years and six months by Judge Michael Crosbie.

Sloane was dealt with yesterday on the charge of robbery, which had been committed while she was on bail on charges of fictitious use of a telephone and making a false complaint to the police. She was also facing two charges of breaching bail – one involved not turning up for her sentencing.

She had pleaded guilty to all the charges.

Defence lawyer Ruth Buddicom said Sloane later met the robbery victim at a Nelson hotel and apologised to her.

Miss Buddicom said the recommendations in a psychological report were supported by Sloane and her mother, who was in court and had written a letter to the judge.

Sloane had earlier been charged for phoning the police to say that she had been kidnapped, put in the boot of a car and driven to Culverden in rural North Canterbury.

It all turned out to be a figment of her imagination, described in court as both a way of getting attention and a misguided prank.

Judge Saunders said the court now had a full psychological report available, and a letter from Sloane's mother.

"Your mother says she has had violent relationships and she takes a measure of responsibility for some of the disruption in your childhood."

Sloane was 17 years old when she made the false complaint, but she was older and more streetwise when the Nelson robbery occurred.

"The court has to send you a clear message that violence of this kind is not tolerated and generally results in a fulltime custodial sentence," the judge said.

Substance abuse had been identified as an issue, he said. He imposed jail sentences totalling two years and eight months.

- © Fairfax NZ News