Sex trade safety

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The murder of a sex trade worker in Hamilton last month has support groups speaking out, saying Tammy Le’s death highlights a bigger problem.

Le was found dead in a hotel room at the Admiral Inn in January by her husband. The 25-year old was a sex trade worker and was strangled to death. The man believed responsible for her murder was found hanging from a tree near a school two days later.

Elene Lam from the Asian and Migrant Sex Workers support network says this isn’t an isolated incident. “It’s very sad when you are in danger you can’t call the police or scream for help because you don’t want to be noticed and then you see how they are being isolated.”

In 2013 40-year old Jiali Zhang was found dead in an apartment in Hamilton’s east end. Police say she died of blunt force trauma. She was a Chinese national who was living in Toronto and had been working as an escort. The man charged with her murder was her client. 43-year-old Evelyn Bumatay Castillo was working as an escort when she was found murdered in a hotel room in Mississauga in 2014.

Lam says these women are vulnerable, isolated and many are afraid to be detained or deported making them easy victims