60 Minutes on Nine has two main stories this week from Tara Brown and Nick McKenzie.
PRESUMED EVIL
Ben Smith was a typically honest, hardworking and ambitious young Australian. Originally from country NSW, he moved to Sydney in the 1990s to play footy, and went on to become a highly respected cop. Life was good.
Then, six years ago, out of the blue, he was accused of horrific, historical sex crimes. Smith knew he was innocent but that wasn’t enough to convince investigators. He was presumed to be evil. There was one person who believed him though, and thank goodness she did.
As Tara Brown reports, Ben’s wife Amy saved her husband from prison by gathering crucial evidence and proving beyond doubt what police and prosecutors ignored – her man was not a monster.
Reporter: Tara Brown
Producer: Naomi Shivaraman
TRAFFICKED
She’s diminutive, quietly spoken, almost invisible. For Mae Ja Kim it’s the perfect disguise to hide a dangerous truth: she is a criminal mastermind and part of Australia’s most ruthless human trafficking syndicate.
Police believe she has made millions of dollars by exploiting hundreds of women lured from Asia to be enslaved in the sex industry here. A decade ago Mae Ja Kim was sentenced to prison for five years, but as Nick McKenzie reveals in a joint investigation by 60 MINUTES, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Stan, that setback may be no more than a minor blip in the career of this major crook.
Reporter: Nick McKenzie
Producer: Amelia Ballinger
60 MINUTES – SUNDAY, MARCH 12, AT 8.40PM ON CHANNEL 9 & 9NOW
Link to 60 Minutes website HERE
Other TV Central Channel 9 stories HERE
