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Couple kept sex slave, jailed
Feb 18, 2010

CAIRNS (Australia) - AN AUSTRALIAN couple who kept a Filipina woman as a sex slave have been sentenced to jail, reported The Cairns Post newspaper on Thursday.

The Supreme Court in Cairns sentenced Zoltan Kovacs, 60, to eight years jail after he pleaded guilty to using and possessing a Filipina woman as a slave.

Kovacs is already serving a seven-year term after being convicted in 2007 for two rapes and a sexual assault relating to a different woman in 1997.

He will be eligible for parole in May 2011, reported The Cairns Post. Kovacs' guilty plea and ill health was taken into account by Justice Stanley Jones when sentencing. Kovacs could also be retried for the rape of the Filipina woman at a later date.

Melita Kovacs, 52, Kovacs' wife, was found guilty by a jury of using and possessing a slave and was sentenced to four years' jail. She will be eligible for parole in December, reported The Cairns Post.

The Kovacs' have been tried five times in five years on the same charges with each conviction being overturned on appeal.