PROSTITUTION

[Duchess]

In your opinion, is there anything wrong with it? I'm talking about your normal, everyday selling of sex, not the dregs of society kind - violent pimps & drug addicts or the selling of kids.

[ramseycat]

No. I wouldn't do it. But if that's your gig, go for it.

[Duchess]

I'm wondering if it's a crime because the money isn't taxed.

Consenting adults can bang until pigs fly and it isn't a crime until money is exchanged.

[aussiefriend]

Probably the nicest kindest people in the world are probably prostitutes. Some of them are out there and own who they are and doing a business service.

For me the real world prostitutes are people like Kim Kardashian etc. but they don't own their shit. They are using people, and screwing the planet in return. That is evil.

Some prostitutes I would say probably have a heart of gold and have seen a side of life we don't know exists and should not try and see it. Imagine some of those people, male and female end up dead, or are rejected by society.

On a program here on the ABC there was a story about this prostitute who was murdered. The whole town came out to celebrate her life and validate her importance in the community.

[aussiefriend]

Here is the full story on the program "Australian Story" I really really hope you watch it. It is quite moving and beautiful. Thanks Aussie.

http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/i...efault.htm

In Tracy's Corner - Transcript
PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT: Monday, 12 May , 2014

RACHEL GRIFFITHS, PRESENTER: Hello, I’m Rachel Griffiths, and I live in Melbourne in the eclectic and creative St Kilda community. Last year, I was horrified and upset to hear of the brutal murder of a fellow St Kilda resident: a woman called Tracy Connelly. She seemingly went through most of her adult life thinking she counted for nothing. She couldn’t have been more wrong. This is her story.
LUCY VALENTINO, COMMUNITY WORKER: It’s a cruel, cruel life out on the streets. She’d come through that door and it was always ‘hello darlings’, yeah. She said, "Tomorrow we’re going to make cup cakes." It was on the Tuesday actually, um, before she died.
(Footage of women cooking in a kitchen)
LUCY VALENTINO, COMMUNITY WORKER: And we were all chatting away like you know busy little bees.
COMMUNITY WORKER: I found this vanilla essence and she said, ‘Oh, I’ll have a swig right now’ and she took the essence and she put a little bit in the icing and then she proceeded to have a swig of the rest of it.
LUCY VALENTINO, COMMUNITY WORKER: Oh, she was a dag.
(End of footage)
LUCY VALENTINO, COMMUNITY WORKER: It was just a really lovely day of, you know, doing as she said some normal things rather than you know being out on the street and – cause she hated it; she hated it.
NEWS ANCHOR: Homicide detectives are investigating a death in St Kilda today the body of the woman in her forties was found in a van in Greeves St...
WENDY SQUIRES, JOURNALIST AND LOCAL RESIDENT: My first reaction was no, no, no not Tracy. This is another woman and another act of violence and it just has to be stopped. I don’t care if Tracy was a sex worker or not, she was a woman and she was my friend and she walked the same streets that I walked. I was angry and it turned out that so was, you know, the public.
(Excerpt from community candlelight vigil held for Tracy Connelly)
SALLY TONKIN, ST KILDA GATEHOUSE: Tonight we represent a melting pot of world views, and we stand together against violence as we remember Tracy.
RACHEL GRIFFITHS, ACTOR & LOCAL RESIDENT: It felt like a very strong message to outsiders also to say, "We care about everybody who lives in St Kilda."
(Footage of Les Toft speaking at community candlelight vigil)
LES TOFT, BROTHER: Our biggest fear was that one day we would get the call, that her final hours were the worst.
BRYAN CONNELLY, FATHER: It was nice to know that, regardless of what was happening in her life, everyone thought very highly of her and you think, "Yeah that’s the girl I know."
DET. SNR SGT STUART BAILEY, VICTORIA POLICE: Any crime where a female has been seriously assaulted, to the extent that Tracy has, we’re really keen to find that person, because we are fearful that something else could happen in the future. Tracy was 40 years old at the time. She’d been working as a street worker since the age of 15 in the St Kilda area. So she was really well known by the local police in that area and by the residents. Once it was out there that Tracy’d been murdered, the residents were devastated. They knew Tracy and it wasn’t like they discouraged her activities, which you would think that they possibly would, but because she was such a lovely person, they understood her predicament in life that they, you know, supported her where they could.
WENDY SQUIRES, JOURNALIST AND LOCAL RESIDENT: Tracy was a landmark in the St Kilda area. She was always on her corner; it’s known as Tracy’s corner. She stood there tall and proud every day from morning til dark. Tracy worked for her heroin habit; she didn’t bowl people over in the street; she didn’t break and enter. You know, she worked really hard. She had a lot of regulars. It was mainly a lot of tradies; I saw a lot of utes, lot of vans. I saw her dropped off a few times; she’d always wave and I’d wave back and you know you didn’t really know what the etiquette was about that. And that’s basically how we started a friendship. I think she was special, I really do.
LUCY VALENTINO, COMMUNITY WORKER: I think that Tracy had a taste of what normal life can be like and I think that made a big difference. A lot of our women have started really, really hard, right from the cradle, whereas Tracy came from a loving family.
SHEILA CONNELLY, MOTHER: I never heard Tracy say a bad word about anybody else. She was a lovely girl; she was not a brash, bold person; she was not an aggressive person. She was a gentle person.
BRYAN CONNELLY, FATHER: Tracy wanted to be independent. I don’t think she was totally rebellious, but certain friends had a lot more freedom than she did and then Tracy wanted to be with them of course.
We wanted to put restrictions on her and of course she was just, she pushed back as well.
SHEILA CONNELLY, MOTHER: One night she stayed out to two, three in the morning. I was furious, so I said "No, that’s it, no going out anymore." You know, "not til two, three." She called welfare people on me. And then they said, oh you know, "She’s 16; she can do what she likes." I said, "No she’s not; she’s not going to do what she likes. Not while she’s under my roof." A day later, two days later, they’d found her accommodation in like a halfway house for I suppose drug addicts who were trying to get off the drugs or whatever. And there she met Matthew: a very nice, very intelligent, clever young boy and I think that’s where she was introduced to the, to the hard drugs.
LES TOFT, BROTHER: Tracy and Matthew, they were both addicted to heroin and they were both sex working er to support that habit.
BRYAN CONNELLY, FATHER: And then she came and told us that she was going to have a baby. She was only 17 just 18 I think at the time. I remember Sheila and I talking about it afterwards and we were saying, "They can’t look after themselves! How are they gonna look after a baby?" And then, of course when she had the baby, they seemed to be coping and they seemed to be looking after themselves. Matthew was back studying as well at university. And we helped them out where we could. They had their ups and downs and I think they had lapses where they probably dallied in something.
SHEILA CONNELLY, MOTHER: And then all of a sudden she rang us one night crying, "Matthew’s taken Billy and gone off to Tasmania to his mother and he won’t, he’s not coming back."
BRYAN CONNELLY, FATHER: We didn’t know what happened with Matthew; he had a big argument with his mother down there apparently and we found out that a friend of his mother’s family said she’d look after um Billy and he signed over custody to her which we thought was absolutely bizarre.
SHEILA CONNELLY, MOTHER: Who is she? She’s no relative, just a person living down the street. Then, not long afterwards, Matthew committed suicide and that woman wouldn’t give Billy back to us. So anyway, then I knew we were up for a fight. And so we applied for custody of Bill and because Bill was in Tasmania, it had to be done in the Tasmanian court. Tracy actually mustered up the courage during the court case. And it was tough for her, but she flew down and er we said just, just stay straight and she was in the hot seat for about a morning. Nine months it took us; nine months the case went. And then eventually we won custody and brought Billy home to live with us in Melbourne.
LES TOFT, BROTHER: My Mum’s financially ruined really as a result. She’s never really recovered because it took everything she had - all her life savings pretty well went into pay lawyers.
BRYAN CONNELLY, FATHER: We were under the impression that, at the start, that y’know, if we got Billy back, well, then we can get Tracy back on the rails. But unfortunately, Tracy still wasn’t sort of at the point where she would take over as a mother again. Tracy came to see Billy a few times, but she had a lot of problems in her own life and she drifted off into her, into her lifestyle, yeah. When Billy was about 10, we moved up here to the Gold Coast. She could have come back home at any time she wanted to, even if she had of been 35, she could have come. But none of us actually saw or heard from Tracy again.
LUCY VALENTINO, COMMUNITY WORKER: The drug usage just takes over everything. If there’s pain there, or if there’s physical pain, if there's emotional pain there, it takes it away; it takes it away, but it takes over your life too. I had a lot of conversations with Tracy and she hated it. I won’t go into details of how she described you know what she had to do to get the drug but, that’s a fact; that’s a fact. I think there’s a perception out there that the men that use street sex workers are only weirdos. I think middle class Australia would be absolutely horrified if they saw what type of cars pull up. Fancy cars with baby seats, beautifully dressed men. I think they’d be absolutely gobsmacked.
WENDY SQUIRES, JOURNALIST AND LOCAL RESIDENT: Tracy, like most girls working on the street, had a minder and Tony was her minder from what I understand. He was there as a safety backup.
SALLY TONKIN, ST KILDA GATEHOUSE: Tracy and Tony I believe have been together for about 11 years and it was definitely a genuine relationship. Tony cared very deeply for Tracy and it went the other way around.
DET. SNR SGT STUART BAILEY, VICTORIA POLICE: In 2005, Tracy moved up to Warburton and lived with Tony and Tony’s mother and they went through rehabilitation and got off heroin in that time.
TONY MELISSOVAS, PARTNER: Tracy had actually found employment working with my mum actually in one of the cafes there, and that job lasted for like years.
DET. SNR SGT STUART BAILEY, VICTORIA POLICE: In 2009, Tony’s mother died and that led to them going back onto heroin and she then started prostituting herself again in St Kilda.
LUCY VALENTINO, COMMUNITY WORKER: St Kilda Gatehouse is basically a refuge for street sex workers, somewhere that they can come, you know, for safety off the streets. Tracy and Tony’s van had broken down and they were living across the road just over there for a month. I’d rock up to work and there’s the van, and there’d be these big long legs coming out of the van and even though Tracy was technically homeless, she’d come out of that bloody van looking like a model. "Hello Luce!" You know, "Put the kettle on!" "Yeah the kettle’s coming on." And you know we’d talk about what sort of night she had and, yeah it was just family yeah. The first time I ever saw Trace vulnerable was when she spoke to me about Billy.
BILLY CONNELLY, SON: I don’t really remember anything about her. Tracy, yeah um I don’t think I’ve ever called her Mum. It just doesn’t feel right. Cause, to me she, she just wasn’t really my mother. Like, Nan was my mum, Tracy was just the person who gave birth to me. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always known what had happened and Nan and Pop never lied to me. They always told me the truth about it. Like. I knew she was my mum and they used to tell me stories about what she was like in school, just her as a teenager.
SHEILA CONNELLY, MOTHER: Billy said, do you think my mother and father loved me and I thought for a while and I thought, I think they did love him, but in their own way. As much as they were capable of loving under the circumstances, you know what I mean? I think the drugs were too strong for them to turn around and say, " Well no, I’m not going to do this anymore. I choose my child." I think they did love him in their own way. I really do think they loved him.
(Footage of Billy Connelly reading)
BILLY CONNELLY, SON: We are both still in a state of ecstasy; he takes all of our 24 hours in a day from us; it seems more. We are both tired; he constantly wants all our attention and we would never deny him of it because we love him.
(stops reading)
BILLY CONNELLY, SON: I really have no idea what went wrong.
LUCY VALENTINO, COMMUNITY WORKER: On the Tuesday before she died, she spoke to me about Billy. And I remember feeling this connection of two mothers. She just wanted Billy to know that it’s not that she didn’t want him; her circumstances made it almost impossible for her to look after a child.
TONY MELISSOVAS, PARTNER: We were extremely depressed over the way we were living. About a week before she passed away she said, "You know what Tone", she said, "We should take our script of sleeping tablets." She goes, "I just don’t see much point, you know, to living at times". And, she said to me, um, she said, "because no one would really care Tone; no one would care." And, um, that’s one thing she was wrong about. She was always right about everything else, you know. That’s one thing she was wrong about.
DET. SNR SGT STUART BAILEY, VICTORIA POLICE: On the Saturday the 20^th of July, 2013, Tony Melissovas had to go to hospital. Through that day, Tracy visited him for a period of time; she then went to work. Tony was quite concerned for her going out to work without him being present. He used to not act as security, but just someone in the background to make sure she was okay. At about 10.30 that night, Tony called her on her mobile and she said that she was safe, but it was a quiet night. Tracy would usually engage sex with her clients either in the client’s car or the premises associated with the client, or if needs be, in a laneway in St Kilda. The only time she would take her client back to her own van was when the client didn’t have any of those options. She went to her van just prior to 2 am with a client and then sometime between 2am and 2.30 that morning, she’s been murdered in that van; she’s been brutally attacked. On that Sunday morning, Tony’s tried to call her, couldn’t get through obviously. So he’s actually left the hospital and started to search for her and, just before 3pm Sunday afternoon on the 21^st of July, he’s discovered her body in the van.
NEWS READER: Police investigating the murder of a St Kilda street worker describe the injuries to her upper body and face as "horrific".
SHEILA CONNELLY, MOTHER: My grandson said, ‘Nan I’ve got something to tell you", he said, "it’s very bad". He said, "It’s Tracy". And then he just blurted it out and told me that she’d been murdered and all this and I got such a shock.
BRYAN CONNELLY, FATHER: When we first got the news Sheila took what appeared to be a massive heart attack. I’ve just been told I’ve lost my daughter; I don’t want to lose my wife as well.
SHEILA CONNELLY, MOTHER: It wasn’t so much that she had died. That, I could’ve accepted, you know, because we all die, I know that. But, it was the way in which she died; that’s what upset me.
(Footage of a news conference)
POLICE SPOKESMAN: The woman was a local street worker, she had upper body facial injuries...
WENDY SQUIRES, JOURNALIST AND LOCAL RESIDENT: I saw that a sex worker in St Kilda had been brutally murdered. I needed to know if it was Tracy, but every day I kept looking in the paper and watching news bulletins and there was no updates and it started to really upset me. Coincidentally, Tom Meagher, Jill Meagher’s husband was in the papers the week that Tracy had died. I thought, isn’t this remarkable that Jill has been dead over a year and she's still on the front page, but my friend could have been killed and I can’t find anything on her. So I just decided I'd write my column that week sort of from my hunt for Tracy. There was a phenomenal reaction. Someone sent me a link. It had a tiny thumbnail photo; I knew straight away it was Tracy.
RADIO PRESENTER: We haven’t been able to put a face to the name of Tracy Connelly now we can...
TALKBACK RADIO CALLER: Even though she was a worker, she was still a woman and she didn’t deserve what happened to her...
RADIO PRESENTER II: I’d like you to compare the murder of Tracy Connelly with Jill Meagher.
RACHEL GRIFFITHS, ACTOR & LOCAL RESIDENT: I noticed over that week that there was, I think, a catch up in the media in terms of really describing Tracy as a woman, you know, as a daughter, as a partner.
RADIO PRESENTER III: Tracy Connelly is not well known, she’s got a beautiful smile...
RADIO PRESENTER IV: There doesn’t seem to be that much going on in terms of outrage ...
TALKBACK RADIO CALLER II: As a local St Kilda resident, there’s a killer on the loose ...
NEWS ANCHOR III: A candlelight vigil will be held next Thursday on Greeves St to remember Tracy...
JOURNALIST: ...they will be handing our 1000 candles to show Tracy has not been forgotten, and that the community...
LES TOFT, BROTHER: So this swell had sort of built up and the Gatehouse said, "Look, she’s getting a lot of press, and we’re actually going to hold a vigil." I said, "I’m just gonna speak for the family to thank everybody for their support ah and um and to learn a bit more." And, I was more keen for Bill to come down to sort learn a bit more about his Mum.
BILLY CONNELLY, SON: I didn’t really want to go at first, but then I realised I probably should go; this will probably be the last time I’ll ever get to say goodbye to her or anything like that.
(Footage of community candlelight vigil held for Tracy Connelly)
CLAIRE: Tracy has long been known to the St Kilda community; her friendly outgoing personality drew people to her.
(End footage)
BILLY CONNELLY, SON: It does make me feel a little sad. And I do feel that I missed out on knowing her, but then seeing the amount of people that actually cared about her and that she had touched throughout her life um, it, it was good to see.
(Footage of community candlelight vigil held for Tracy Connelly)
CLAIRE: As much as it is a dark place down here, she brought the light.
LES TOFT, BROTHER: Tracy’s mother prayed every night, and I mean every night, that Tracy would be safe and that she would be able to return into our lives.
(End footage)
RACHEL GRIFFITHS, ACTOR & LOCAL RESIDENTS: I think the vigil was two things. It was, one, saying to Tracy’s friends and the other girls, “You matter.” And, the other part was sending a strong message to people that come into St Kilda that we abhor violence and that these girls are part of our community and they’re cared about.
WENDY SQUIRES, JOURNALIST AND LOCAL RESIDENT: We can all move on a little bit now, a bit wiser, and I think we all realise that we’re all the same. From what I can see, people don’t care what Tracy did, they just care about Tracy.
NEWS ANCHOR: Police want to speak to two people they believe can help them identify the killer of St Kilda sex worker. CCTV footage shows a man that police believe may have seen Ms Connelly and her killer walking on nearby Vale St. Police also want to speak to the driver of a dark coloured ford ute.
DET. SNR SGT STUART BAILEY, VICTORIA POLICE: We’re working on a theory that it’s probably a robbery gone wrong because there’s a black handbag that’s been stolen, her mobile phone, um a Bendigo credit card and they’ve never been found. We believe the most likely theory is that she’s tried to struggle to keep her possessions after they’ve engaged probably in sex and um that’s when she’s been brutally attacked and ah it’s been a really vicious attack that’s led to her death. There’s been several samples of DNA all to the one contributor and we’re quite certain that is our male suspect. We’ve tested nationally that DNA and it hasn’t come up on our database. Over the last year and a half, prior to the murder, Tony ah would often be in the background recording registration numbers of cars of clients. He collected about 3,000 registration numbers; he’s supplied that to police, so what we’re doing now is pulling that that information together to try to get new persons of interest.
BRYAN CONNELLY, FATHER: To have someone found guilty for what happened to Tracy would be closure for me, Okay. That’s, and I’m not sure whether I’ll ever achieve it but, you know, she shouldn’t be like that anyway. Okay. You’re not supposed to outlive your children.
SHEILA CONNELLY, MOTHER: Just a little thing to put her ashes there, so we can all stand around and just pay a little bit of respect to her. The crucifix because I hope God is looking after her and I - she loved flowers and I got some flowers for her and some candles.
BRYAN CONNELLY, FATHER: We made a family decision to look after the funeral arrangements and we organised a service for Tracy. But the Coroner’s Office released her body to Tony and he organised something through a Baptist church down in St Kilda.
LES TOFT, BROTHER: So at the end, I just said, "Look, we’ll have our own service here." Tracy’s been away for a long time and Mum feels comforted on some level that she can... (becoming emotional) ...she’s taken some comfort now the fact that that Tracy is home, that she’s not lost. So it was, it was a homecoming for us.
(Footage of family holding a memorial for Tracy)
BRYAN CONNELLY, FATHER: Tracy may you soar high with angels and watch over every single one of us as we look up at the sky and remember you. God bless you.
LUCY VALENTINO, COMMUNITY WORKER: Three times a week, I have to drive past Tracy’s Corner, and it’s always the same, feeling the sadness. Still the disbelief, the disbelief that she’s gone.
WENDY SQUIRES, JOURNALIST AND LOCAL RESIDENT: It just feels so strange without seeing her there, and every time I look for her, it sort of digs – it really hurts actually. She was just a presence in this area that is just greatly missed.
END CAPTIONS:
After losing contact with her family, Tracy Connelly gave birth to a second son who was adopted and would now be in his early teens.
Victoria Police say they have now provided DNA samples to Interpol for database matching in 192 countries.
They are still looking for two potential witnesses in CCTV images.

[sally]

It's a waste of time and money. They have cops out there worrying about that bullshit while someone is busy running a meth lab down the street. I say legalize it already.

[Maggot]

It's legal in Vegas, and they have current updated licenses that I think has to be updated with a clean bill of health. Eh.......its a better system than letting them rum amuck willy nilly through the streets like time bombs.

[Duchess]

I don't see anything wrong with it. Sometimes people just want to get laid and they don't want to go through the process of a date night and making small talk and all the other bullshit that goes along with dating. They simply want to do the deed and move on. If consenting adults are agreeable to that kind of thing I don't think one should run the risk of being arrested.

[Maggot]

It could be a taxable business with the funds going towards drug addiction.

[Carsman]

IMO: I feel and have said elsewhere that legalized properly controlled prostitution would be a good thing for all. Including the govt, as they could get their piece of the pie "tax" on the business. One of the controls would have to be regular "testing" of both female & male prostitutes. Again, another taxable item. It would cost the John's a little more in the long run, but the benefits would prove benifical for all involved.

[username]

It's legal in Vegas, and they have current updated licenses that I think has to be updated with a clean bill of health. Eh.......its a better system than letting them rum amuck willy nilly through the streets like time bombs.

I say legalize it too.

There's an advertisement on the radio for vegas.com that I must hear at least a half dozen times a day. I'm sick of the ad and part of it says something like "we can save you money for those things we can't talk about on the radio". He doesn't say it but you can hear the "wink, wink" in his voice. Blurg.

One day my son was in the car while it was playing so I told him about the hookers in Las Vegas and how it's legal and stuff there. I was just rambling but now that I think about it, at least he knows where to go if he ever feels the need to pay to get laid.

[username]

Aussie, you might as well have posted War and Peace in here. WTF? If I want to read a novel, I'll buy one, thanks anyway.

[sally]

No shit. I pity the fool that's bored enough to read all that.

In Amsterdam they have pamphlets in the hotel lobby about how much a prostitute should cost, if you paid 50 bucks you paid too much.

[aussiefriend]

you don't have to fucking read it, it's a fucking transcript and the link to the show where you don't have to fucking read it is there, so you can watch it. One day when you finish school you will be able to read it. geesh.

[sally]

I finished school, and I still don't care to read a story about some old whore in Australia that's longer than the Dead Sea Scrolls.

[aussiefriend]

she's DEAD already Sally and the whole joint came out to celebrate her life. So that's what they think of her occupation, they don't care! She was a person, a human being, she didn't hurt anybody. click on the link and watch the very moving story on her life, just because it says Australian Story and not American Story her life is still important. You also don't need to have finished high school to click on the link.

[ZEROSPHERES]

Do you have any XXX vids of her you could post?

[Cutz]

I knew a guy who says you always pay for sex. Whether you pay for a date, pay with drugs/alcohol, pay cash, or pay with long-term commitment and a relationship, sex is never free.

At the time he said it, I disagreed, but I can see his point. Unless you can pull off continuous one night stands without much setup... sex usually requires some investment of time and money.

[ZEROSPHERES]

Very True. Ask Eliot Spitzer how expensive it can be. Even when you pay top dollar for the very best there are still hidden costs.

[aussiefriend]

Do you have any XXX vids of her you could post?

What part of DEAD don't you understand? She is deceased, passed on, croaked it, nada, no pulse, in a deep sleep, in the ground, kaput. So in answer to your question, the answer is a definite NO!