Halifax pimp Tashlynn Shaw sentenced to 30 months

A Halifax pimp has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for selling the sexual services of two teenage girls.

Tashlynn Sheila Marie Shaw was initially facing more than 20 charges for pimping out two girls, one 15 years old and one 14 years old. 

She pleaded guilty to five charges, including two counts of living off the avails of prostitution of people under the age of 18. The remaining charges were dropped.

Shaw beat one girl

In a decision released Monday, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge said both girls were already working as prostitutes when Shaw encountered them.

Court heard that she would provide them with drives, liquor and would post ads selling their services. She would also book hotel rooms for them to meet their clients.

In return for these services, Shaw received an undisclosed amount of money.

Court heard how, in one instance, Shaw assaulted one of the girls with a police-style baton and a steak knife. The girl lost clumps of her hair, her face was swollen, one of her eyes was black and swollen and she had abrasions on her chest. In an agreed statement of facts, court heard the girl decided to let herself be assaulted, rather than fight back.

Shaw must also give DNA sample

In sentencing Shaw last week, Justice Robert Wright said her crimes warrant more than the mandatory minimum of two years in prison.

"The facts underlying this case place it at the lower end of gravity relative to the more egregious circumstances found in other reported cases," Wright wrote in his sentencing decision.

"That is not to understate, however, the seriousness of the offences committed here which were exploitive of two vulnerable, juvenile girls in capitalizing on the sale of their sexual services."

In addition to the 30 months in prison, Shaw must give a DNA sample and her name goes on the national sex-offender registry. The judge also recommended she get anger management and mental-health counselling.