[www.news.com.au]- A MAN who pimped a 16-year-old schoolgirl paid her with chicken nuggets for having sex with men, a court has been told.

Ronald Vikash Gander, 27, and his 16-year-old girlfriend devised a plan to prostitute a teenage girl so they could afford the weekly $1050 rent on a serviced inner-Brisbane apartment, the Brisbane District Court was told today.

The court was told the girl made $4500 for having sex with five middle-aged men in June last year. Gander and his girlfriend used the money for living expenses and paid the girl nothing except for the occasional box of chicken nuggets.

The court was told Gander’s girlfriend – who cannot be named – threatened the student, who had run away from home, with eviction if she didn’t continue having sex with clients to earn her keep.

Judge Marshall Irwin described the prostitution offences as “sordid”.

“The girl was used as if she was a piece of meat … and your conduct can properly be described as that of a sleaze merchant,” Judge Irwin said.

Gander pleaded guilty to one count each of procuring prostitution with a circumstance of aggravation and knowingly participating in the provision of prostitution with a circumstance of aggravation.

He was sentenced to two and a half years’ jail to be suspended after nine months.