More prison time for pimp mother

The prison sentence of an Auckland woman who forced her underage daughter into prostitution has been increased.

Kasmeer Lata, 36, was sentenced to six years and 11 months in jail earlier this year but on Wednesday the Court of Appeal increased that to 10 years and three months.

The solicitor-general appealed after Justice Matthew Muir sentenced the woman in April.

The victim and Lata arrived in New Zealand in 2014 on visitor visas from Fiji, court documents show.

Towards the end of that year Lata met Avneesh Sehgal and they entered into a relationship. Shortly after Lata asked the victim if she would work as a prostitute to raise money for the family to start a business and to have food to eat.

The daughter initially refused. Lata told her they would starve and would be homeless and she would only have to sell herself for sex for one month.

Sehgal and Lata advertised the girl as one of two ‘‘HOT SEXY busty Indian girls’’ and said she was 18 years old.

On the victim’s 15th birthday, she was sold for sex for the first time.

She was dressed up in a short skirt, had her hair straightened and had make-up applied, court documents show.

Despite continually expressing she did not want to go through with the arrangement, her own mother coached her on how to have sex.

A man paid $200 to have sex that day and he then became a regular at the home, arriving every two weeks to have sex with the teen.

As Lata did not have a valid New Zealand visa, she was unable to open a bank account and therefore Sehgal’s bank account was used to receive all of the cash earnings.

Her mother continued to organise men to come to their home.

When neighbours started to get suspicious that the house was operating as a brothel, the family moved, court documents show.

Sehgal and Lata continued to arrange ‘‘appointments’’ for the victim but this time it would be in motels or clients’ homes.

During this time, the victim was also photographed by New Zealand Girls – an online escort agency.

The victim was required to undress and put oil on her body.

Those photos were then put online and she was advertised as ‘‘Tipsy’’.

In the 18-month period the teen was forced to be a sex slave, she was sold about 1000 times.

She made about $100,000 in earnings, most of which was kept by Sehgal and Lata.

In its decision, the Court of Appeal said: ‘‘The sexual exploitation in this case was both intensive and prolonged ... It necessitated high and continuous levels of premeditation and planning.’’

The court found that Justice Muir had wrongly determined where the offending sat on a scale of seriousness.

The court also lengthened the minimum period of imprisonment of three years and five months to five years.