Prostitute, 26, teams up with three men to steal $5,000 from a long-term client as he lay naked in a hotel bed waiting for her
- Mikala Fergusson, 26, was sentenced at Wollongong District Court on Friday
- She stole more than $5,000 from a long-time client with three male accomplices
- Two of the men entered the hotel room to find the victim lying naked on the bed
A prostitute who teamed up with three men to steal $5,000 from her long-time client as he lay naked in a hotel bed has been jailed.
Mikala Fergusson, 26, was sentenced at Wollongong District Court on Friday for robbing the man during a rendezvous at Harp Hotel in Wollongong, south of Sydney, in September 2017.
The sex worker first met her client in 2016 while working at ‘Desires’, a brothel in Unanderra, and they began a working relationship, the Illawarra Star reported.
Fergusson contacted the man the day before the robbery to organise their next engagement, to which he obliged.
Mikala Fergusson, 26, teamed up with three men to steal $5,000 from her long-time client as he lay naked in a hotel bed
He agreed to pay her $300 and booked the pair a hotel room as he usually would do.
Fergusson was dropped at Harp Hotel by the three men late on September 21 and went straight to the booked room with her client.
Unlike their usual meet-ups, Fergusson suggested her client get into the shower while she stole his key card from his wallet.
Fergusson then claimed her phone was out of battery and said she would visit reception to see if she could find an adapter.
During the deception, the court heard Fergusson met with her three accomplices in the reception and gave them the victim’s key card and a key to the hotel room.
Two of the men entered the hotel room to find the man lying naked on the bed and one of them began to threaten him with a metal pole, the court heard.
The sex worker first met her client in 2016 while working at ‘Desires’, a brothel in Unanderra, and they began a working relationship
Fergusson was sentenced at Wollongong District Court on Friday for robbing the man
The attackers forced the man to hand over his wallet, phone and banking app pin, while Fergusson drove to an ATM with the third man to withdraw $2200 cash.
They then drove back to the hotel to pick up the two men and the victim called the police.
An additional $3400 was transferred from the man’s bank account, court documents said.
Fergusson was arrested, charged and pleaded guilty to robbery in company and obtaining a benefit by deception.
In court on Friday, Fergusson said she was ‘really scared’ and went along with the robbery because she was ‘intimidated’ by the partners in crime.
‘They were heavy guys and they had been banned from the parlour in the past. I was living at the parlour and I didn’t know what else to do,’ she said.
Fergusson pleaded guilty to robbery in company and obtaining a benefit by deception
Fergusson was asked why she didn’t tell her client about the planned attack and claimed she wasn’t thinking straight because she was ‘heavily intoxicated with drugs’.
Fergusson maintained she was not awarded with the stolen money but Judge Andrew Haesler struggled to believe that was the case.
‘[Fergusson] was alone and asked him to shower, she handed the keys over,’ he said.
‘She must have known something terrible might happen … and I cannot accept that she was not at some stage wanting a share of the proceeds.’
Fergusson was sentenced to three years in jail, with a non-parole period of one year and 10 months.
Fergusson stole from her client during a rendezvous at Harp Hotel in Wollongong, south of Sydney, in September 2017