Briefly unable to talk past his tears, Howard Ho spoke of his devastation at learning the woman he hoped to marry was deported from Canada after working illegally and arrested at a bawdy house.
"She said she wanted to marry me," said Ho, who flew in from Toronto to try to post bond to keep Mui Fan Wong in Canada at yesterday's deportation hearing.
"I am a poor man with no money and still she like me. She considered me a nice guy."
Wong, who said she came to Canada from Hong Kong to sightsee in July, admitted at the hearing she earned money as a masseuse travelling from Edmonton, to Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, earning just under $10,000 since October.
She was ordered deported for working without a visa, in violation of federal laws.
The tiny, attractive and exhausted-looking woman at yesterday's hearing was arrested at a bawdy house during a recent investigation where Calgary police charged a woman with human trafficking.
The two women, aged 25 and 41, said to have been sold to undercover officers for $8,000, will not face deportation as the Sun previously reported.
Linh Quy To, 52, is charged with trafficking in persons and numerous other crimes after police claim she advertised sex services from Asian girls online, booking in clients while working at her 4105 4 St. N.W. hair salon.
She is also accused of giving directions to houses where women were sexually exploited.
As for Wong, she was not charged criminally but will be deported early next week for working without a permit.
Her lawyer, Gavin Grant, pushed for his client to be released from custody pending her flight back to Hong Kong early next week.
"I think she's a victim here and any more time in jail is further victimizing her," he said.
"She's a 37-year-old woman with a high school education and she has no criminal record."
He said there is "no reason beyond mere speculation she wouldn't attend for removal," and that Ho was willing to post a $2,000 to $3,000 bond.
NADIA.MOHARIB@SUNMEDIA.CA
