A Melbourne couple stands accused of keeping a woman as a slave in their home for eight years between 2007 and 2015.
Kumuthini and Kandasamy Kannan allegedly kept the woman, who was enticed from India with promises of a good wage as a house keeper, in horrific conditions; prosecutors say they forced her to work around the clock with barely an hour to sleep, and beat her if her work was not up to scratch.
It was only after the woman collapsed in a pool of her own urine that she was taken to hospital, where it was found that she had such a bad case of urinary sepsis that she likely would have died if it had remained untreated.
After her years in the Kannans’ household, doctors say the woman had lesions on her hands and feet, was malnourished, had Type 2 diabetes, and had lost all her teeth.
The Daily Telegraph reports that it was Mrs Kannan who was responsible for most of the woman’s mistreatment, saying that she allegedly locked the woman out of the house in the freezing cold, slapped, hit and kicked her, pulled her hair and mentally tormented her, and left her locked in the house for a month when the family went on holiday.
When the woman’s worried family members called from India, Mrs Kannan allegedly abused them over the phone. The woman was also told that if she wanted to return home, she’d have to pay for her own plane tickets – which would have been impossible, as state prosecutor Fiona McLeod says that she was cheated out of more than $240,000 in wages.
The Kannans’ lawyer says that the woman “wanted for nothing” during her eight years as an alleged slave, and that “all her needs were met“.
The couple have been charged with possessing a slave, exercising ownership over a slave, and harbouring an unlawful non-citizen. A five-day committal hearing, which started today, will decide if they will stand trial.
