Gold Coast brothel owner’s wife caught in text sting

The wife of a Gold Coast brothel owner has found herself in hot water after Covid devastated their business. WHAT HAPPENED IN COURT

A disability carer has been fined $750 for defying orders and helping to run a brothel owned by her husband.

The Southport Magistrates Court was told Sabrina Massari Celeste, 45, passed messages between her husband – the owner of Utopia in Paradise brothel – and brothel workers from June to September last year.

This was after the Prostitution Licensing Authority revoked Celeste’s approval to manage the brothel and stipulated in her husband’s licence that she was not to have any involvement. 

The brothel was since sold in March and is under new ownership.

The court was told an investigation found Celeste communicated with her husband about the business on an almost daily basis between June 8 and September 1 last year.

Messages from her mobile phone were intercepted as part of the investigation.

Generic photo of an escort in Sydney. brothel prostitute sex worker

Celeste’s solicitor Daniel McShane, of Rawlings Law, said the woman did not deal with brothel clients, but passed on messages from some of the workers to her husband.

“The business suffered significantly during Covid,” Mr McShane said. “Obviously, the government, for good reason, placed a significant halt on that particular line of work during Covid.

“They had a number of managers, it was a flourishing business. Covid happens – essentially none of the managers come back to work.

“The husband is forced to work almost 24 hours a day running the business.

“My client steps in, she knows she can’t, but she essentially commits the offence in that context.”

Southport Courthouse. Picture: Jerad Williams

Celeste and her husband later relocated to Sydney, where she took up work as a disability carer.

On Tuesday, she pleaded guilty to one charge of knowingly participating in the provision of prostitution.

The maximum penalty for the offence is three years’ imprisonment.

Magistrate Jane Bentley said Celeste had found herself in a difficult situation.

“It’s a bit difficult, isn’t it? When they’re husband and wife living together that she’s not supposed to have anything to do with his business,” she said.

Magistrate Bentley fined Celeste $750.

No conviction was recorded.

It’s not the first time a person with links to Utopia in Paradise has found themselves in trouble with the law.

Last December, a brothel manager faced court for switching the name of a sex worker because her health certificate proving she was free of sexually transmitted infections had expired.

Jade Brandon Tabet changed the sex worker’s name to another employee who had a clearance.

Tabet pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court to one count of providing prostitution in contravention of a licensee certificate.

He was fined $1000. No conviction was recorded.

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Originally published as Gold Coast brothel owner’s wife caught in text sting