Sex worker Amber McCabe blackmailed clients, threatening to reveal infidelity, court hears

A western suburbs sex worker blackmailed clients for cash by threatening to alert their partners to their infidelity, a court has heard.

A former sex worker blackmailed clients, threatening to reveal their infidelity if they did not transfer money to her account, a court has heard.

Amber McCabe, of West Beach, has pleaded guilty to three counts of blackmail against two separate clients in November last year, receiving $1360 from one victim and $650 from another across multiple, smaller payments.

Chris Pouras, for McCabe, said his client was a former nurse who had become homeless after an injury and was “utterly destitute” when she turned to sex work for money in about 2016.

The court heard McCabe blackmailed the men out of annoyance at clients cancelling booked appointments.

“(She) had become obviously quite frustrated at constantly having bookings made and not being followed through and she took matters into her (own) hands, unfortunately, to her significant detriment,” Mr Pouras said.

Amber McCabe, a former sex worker who blackmailed clients with threats of revealing their infidelity for cash. Picture: Facebook

Amber McCabe outside the District Court with her lawyer, Chris Pouras. Picture: Supplied

He said she “didn’t intend to cause significant distress other than to expose their infidelity”.

McCabe, who he said suffers from multiple medical conditions, was highly apologetic and very remorseful and would pay her victims back the money she was paid.

The court heard McCabe had no plans to return to sex work and instead wished to study professional writing to “become a freelance journalist or to write blog posts”.

Prosecutor Peter Cannell told the court Ms McCabe’s offending was “not at the highest end of the scale of seriousness, but it’s not at the very lowest end”.

He said McCabe had sought payment from her victims in lots of $100, $200 or $300 and her offending included finding out where one of her victim’s worked and the name of his partner.

Mr Cannell said the intended harm was “essentially to cause serious embarrassment and humiliation to both (men) with the threat hanging over their heads that if they didn’t transfer funds when requested, that their partners would be notified in some way”.

He said there had also been an “implied” threat of harm and evidence both victims had suffered distress.

“(One victim) says in his statement that he was worried that the accused would visit his house and his pregnant wife and cause harm to them so there is an implied threat,” he said.

Judge Joana Fuller told McCabe she would sentence her in September but would not require her to spend any further time in custody.

She released McCabe on bail ahead of sentence with a condition she report once a week to police.