NSW:No privacy for prostitute witnesses

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2010
NSW:No privacy for prostitute witnesses

SYDNEY, Dec 6 AAP - A prostitute who fled a crime scene where a co-worker died after
the pair took drugs has made an unsuccessful bid to hide her identity in the murder case
against a Sydney neurosurgeon.

Suresh Surendranath Nair is charged with the murder of Suellen Domingues-Zaupa, 22,
in November 2009, and the manslaughter of Victoria McIntyre, 23, in February 2009.

Both women had been hired by him as escorts.

It is alleged that Nair supplied cocaine to each of them, on separate occasions, at
his flat in the eastern Sydney suburb of Elizabeth Bay prior to their deaths.

At a committal hearing in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Monday, Magistrate
Carolyn Barkell heard that a string of sex workers due to give evidence wanted their identities
kept secret.

Among the eight women is a prostitute known as Katie.

"The witness Katie was present at the time Suellen Domingues passed away?" Nair's barrister,
Peter Hamill SC, asked in opposition to the prosecution's bid to suppress the women's
identities.

"Yes," replied Detective Senior Constable Ben Tearne, the officer in charge of the
investigation into Ms Domingues' death.

"Was it true that the witness Katie had arranged for the deceased to attend the accused's
premises?" Mr Hamill asked.

"Yes," Det Sen Const Tearne replied.

He also confirmed that Katie had taken drugs at Nair's home.

In supporting Katie's bid to have her identity suppressed, Det Sen Const Tearne said
she was "fearful".

"She's worried about her safety, reprisals from the accused," he said.

"She has expressed that she has a boyfriend who she doesn't wish to find out about
these activities."

Other women due to give evidence, who have also worked as prostitutes, requested a
preference that they not be named in court.

One woman, Terri, who the court was told now works in banking, said that being named
as a prostitute could impact on her career, and that of her father who worked as the CEO
of a "major company".

Ms Barkell refused the application for all the women except one, who has moved to the
United States since the alleged offence and therefore cannot be forced to attend court.

"The witnesses are not victims of crime for which the accused stands before the court,"

Ms Barkell said.

"They are witnesses who were with him, they were engaged with him in their work as escorts.

"... they will be called to court without the protection of anonymity."

The hearing is continuing.

AAP ad/wjf/jh/apm

KEYWORD: NAIR

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.