The third victim in the Chinese massage parlour case strongly denied having ever provided any ‘extra’ services of a sexual nature to clients and insisted that she had never suffered any repercussions at the hands of her employers when she refused.

This declaration came in stark contrast to the facts disclosed by two other masseuses who testified in the compilation of evidence against Winston Gera, 45, and his Chinese partner Zhang Tianxia, 35, from St Julian’s, currently undergoing proceedings over human trafficking charges.

Working from 10am to 10pm, seven days a week, if she ventured out for longer than half an hour, she had to inform her bosses, the court was told

The former bus ticket vendor and qualified masseuse explained via video conference how she had applied for the job through an agency back in her homeland, paying some 50,000 renminbi (€6,500) in agency charges.

Part of this sum was meant to be forwarded to her future employer. However, under cross examination, the woman declared that she could not tell whether the payment had actually ended up in the pocket of Mr Gera.

Upon her arrival in Malta in August, she was greeted at the airport by Mr Gera and his girlfriend who later accompanied her to the massage shop in Ħamrun where she practically spent all her days, paying €150 monthly to reside in the premises which had no bedroom, no kitchen and no shower. The place lacked ventilation, there was no air conditioner and she slept on a small sofa, the witness recalled.

A female officer testified at the start of today’s sitting that the police had searched the Ħamrun parlour, noting that the place was stuffy and the kitchenette was in a filthy state.

Questioned by the prosecution, the woman explained that some two weeks before the police intervention, her bosses had given her a hot plate and a frying pan. Before that, her meals consisted of bread which she purchased during short breaks from the shop.

Working from 10am to 10pm, seven days a week, if she ventured out for longer than half an hour, she had to inform her bosses, the court was told. Each day the number of clients varied from zero to eight, although only one VAT receipt was issued per day – in accordance to instructions by her boss.

The parlour charged €25 for a massage, out of which the witness got €5, although this was upped to €10 after she complained to her employers, threatening to pack up and leave.

When asked by the prosecution whether she had offered extra services of a sexual nature, the woman said an outright ‘No!’

Although certain clients had requested more, she had always refused and her bosses never forced her to do otherwise, the woman stated, adding that she had not suffered any repercussions.

She had had an argument with the co-accused over her passport, as she was forced to pay €500 to get it back from Mr Gera. She was also angered by the fact that she had to reimburse her employers some €491 for a blood test she had to do, and for insurance cover.

Whenever there was an argument, the accused would threaten to cancel her Visa and send her back to China, the woman explained.

Cross-examined over her living conditions, the woman retorted: “Where can I live apart from the shop?” adding that ‘Mr Winston’ had once spoken about renting premises to house all the masseuses, but nothing had materialised.

Asked why she had never reported the matter to the police but had only spoken up when another masseuse filed a report, the witness explained that she was not sure how things worked in Malta.

Upon being asked by the magistrate to view the courtroom via a monitor, the witness reportedly drew back and burst into tears upon catching sight of the accused couple.

The lengthy sitting came to an end with a request for bail, the defence arguing that the main civilian witnesses had testified and that Mr Gera was a Maltese citizen with strong family ties on the island.

In view of fact that some civilian witnesses were still to testify and that there was no extradition treaty with China – besides the gravity of the charges – Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech turned down the request for bail at this stage.

Inspectors John Spiteri and Joseph Busuttil prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Yanika Vidal were defence counsel, while lawyers Lara Dimitrijevic and Stephanie Caruana appeared parte civile.