Adelaide sex worker says she was sexually assaulted when client removed condom but was too scared to tell police, fearing arrest

An Adelaide sex worker says she was raped by a man who removed his condom – but fearing arrest, didn’t go to police.

An Adelaide sex worker alleging she was raped says she is too scared to report the crime to police fearing she will be the one facing criminal charges under current laws.

The alleged sexual assault occurred last month in a suburban Adelaide adult massage business when a male client removed his condom without consent during sex.

The Law Society of SA says under state criminal law the act of secretly removing a condom during sex may be considered sexual assault irrespective of the victim’s occupation.

In New Zealand in April, a man was jailed for rape after removing a condom without consent in a legal first for that country.

“I froze – I shut down,” said the sex worker, who is in her 20s, when she realised what had happened. “I burst into tears and started to panic – what if I’ve been infected.”

An Adelaide sex worker in her 20s (pictured right) alleges she was raped by a client, but fears reporting the sexual assault to police would see her charged with offences relating to prostitution, which is illegal in SA. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Sexually transmissible infection tests have returned negative results, but she said the trauma of the assault remained partly because the alleged perpetrator remained at large – but also because she was not protected by the law.

“I do this job by choice, and what this guy has done in my workplace is make me feel degraded and violated and he’s not being punished – he is free to keep hurting other women.”

She said reporting the rape to police was not an option, but she wanted to tell her story publicly to raise the urgent need for law reform to protect vulnerable SA sex workers.

A police spokesperson said all sexual offences would be thoroughly investigated regardless of the victim’s occupation. “Sex industry workers should not fear prosecution in disclosure of such reports,” they said.

Law Society of SA president Rebecca Sandford said matters involving the question about whether consent was given were notoriously difficult to prosecute, but welcomed the government reviewing reforms to clarify what it meant to give and receive consent.

Under SA laws, soliciting involves fines of up to $750 and living on the earnings of prostitution attracts a fine of $1250 to $2500 or imprisonment for up to six months.

Sex Industry Network general manager Kat Morrison. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Sex Industry Network general manager Kat Morrison said the sex worker’s case was a prime example of why law reform was long overdue in SA, with rapes and sexual assaults – although rare in sex work – consistently under reported or not reported at all.

“The perpetrator of this crime is not held accountable and can continue to offend,” she said. “We should be outraged that in 2021, in the era of the ‘me too’ movement, we have women working in an industry who do not feel safe because the law does not protect them.”

A parliamentary committee is inquiring into legislation to abolish offences relating to prostitution in SA.

The Statutes (Repeal of Sex Work Offences) Amendment Bill, introduced by SA Greens MLC Tammy Franks, is due to return to the Legislative Council as a report for a second reading. The last attempt to decriminalise sex work was lost by six votes in November 2019.