The partner of a woman who sold her teenage daughter as a sex slave has been sentenced to more than four years behind bars.
Avneesh Sehgal, 26, helped Kasmeer Lata pressure her 15-year-old daughter into having sex for money up to a thousand times over an 18 month period.
Lata and her daughter became overstayers in New Zealand after arriving from Fiji on visitors visas in 2014. Unable to work, Lata asked her daughter to engage in prostitution.
The victim initially refused but was told the family would starve, and that the arrangement would only be for a month.
The victim was sold to her first client on her 15th birthday.
Lata charged around $100 for each encounter and the victim was at times required to have sex multiple times a day. In total, she made around $100,000, half of which was given to the victim, though rent and household expenses would then be deducted.
Lata was sentenced to almost seven years in prison last month.
In today's sentencing, Justice Lang said while Sehgal had a far lesser role than the victim's mother, he still played a significant part in the offending.
"First you allowed your accounts to be used to receive funds derived from the sexual services provided by the victim," Justice Lang told the High Court at Auckland.
"On occasions you would deposit cash derived from the provision of sexual services into the account.
"Over the 18 month period during which the offending occurred, the total of approximately $86,000 was paid into your account."
Sehgal also helped place advertisements and on occasions, drove the victim to client's homes.
"Often this would be of the company of not only the victim, but her mother and grandmother."
Justice Lang said Sehgal knew exactly how vulnerable the victim was.
"Throughout this period, the immigration status of the victim meant she could not attend school.
"In addition, she was kept confined within the home and not allowed to play outside in case she met other young persons.
"Not surprisingly, she was left in a state of complete social isolation and had nobody whom she could turn for help."
The victim eventually managed to escape her home and alerted police in late 2016.
Sehgal initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, but changed his plea to guilty after being arrested at Auckland Airport trying to flee to India.
The pre-sentencing report showed Sehgal didn't appear to be sincere about his remorse.
This morning, Sehgal handed a letter to Justice Lang expressing his regret, but the judge discounted it, saying if he was genuine, he would have expressed it earlier.
Sehgal will serve a minimum of two years and four months in prison.
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