Cheng Li hopes to avoid prison because he is the primary caregiver for his two children

A Heidelberg brothel manager who hired a teenager as a dominatrix says he needs to be free to drop his kids at school.

Cheng Li has pleaded guilty to one count of receiving payment for sexual services provided by a child. Picture: iStock

A brothel manager who hired a 16-year-old girl to work as a dominatrix has asked a court not to send him to jail because he does his kids’ school drop-off and pick-up.

Cheng Li, 35, hopes to avoid prison after pleading guilty to one count of receiving payment for sexual services provided by a child, because he’s the primary caregiver for his two children and takes them to appointments, kindergarten and school.

Li was the manager at his mum’s brothel, Heidelberg Angels, where he paid a 16-year-old girl under the state’s care to work as an assistant dominatrix and fetish pleaser four nights in a row in 2019.

Ubers were sent to pick the girl up from residential care, run by the Department of Human Services, and took her to the brothel, where she had sex with men on five occasions.

Li’s wife gave evidence in the County Court through a translator on Wednesday that her husband’s night time brothel work meant he had been able to care for their daughter and son as she worked in a factory during the day, and he took their younger boy to a speech pathologist once a fortnight.

Defence barrister Dr Theo Alexander argued the family faced “exceptional circumstances” with the youngest child’s speech disorder, and Li played an “integral role as a primary caregiver” while his wife was primary breadwinner.

“The punishment will extend quite significantly to (Li’s wife) if Mr Li was to be immediately imprisoned,” Dr Alexander said.

But prosecutor Carmela Pezzimenti rejected Li’s get-out-of jail bid, calling for him to be sent to prison as there were “plenty of single parent households out there … who make ends meet”.

It was simply the experience “families face every day when a parent goes into prison,” she argued.

Ms Pezzimenti also questioned whether the kindergarten or school would be “content” with Li’s attendance given his criminal conviction and mandatory eight years on the sex offenders’ registry.

But Judge Angela Ellis confirmed if he wasn’t involved in activities with children at the education settings, there were no added requirements.

Her Honour said it “wouldn’t be the first time” that a parent facing jail put pressure on the other parent.

“It does mean families have to adjust, sadly,” Judge Ellis said.

“Again, it’s a consequence of Mr Li’s own making.”

The Crown is calling for a combination sentence of jail and a community corrections order due to the nature of the crime, the need to deter others from similar offending and denunciation.

Judge Ellis will sentence Li on October 10.

The crime carries up to 15 years’ jail.