Australia: Melbourne woman convicted of keeping Indian-origin woman as slave handed more jail time

A Melbourne woman, aged 55, who was imprisoned for keeping an Indian-origin Tamil woman as a slave for eight years, has now been sentenced to an additional two-and-a-half years for threatening the victim before she gave proof in the criminal trial, said the police, as per news agency PTI.

The police, on Saturday, released a statement saying that Kumuthini Kannan and her husband Kandasamy Kannan were earlier convicted and sentenced for enslaving the victim, in her 60s, in their Mount Waverley home between the years 2007 and 2015.

The statement said that Kumuthini pleaded guilty to the offence of twisting the course of justice during an Australian Federal Police (AFP) slavery probe and was sentenced on July 7 in the County Court of Victoria to an additional two years and six months imprisonment.

The judge ordered that the sentence would begin 18 months before the completion of the sentence she was currently facing for the slavery offences.

Earlier, Kumuthini was sentenced to eight years in prison with a non-parole period of four years for the slavery offences.

She will be eligible for parole in January 2026. Her husband was sentenced to six years in prison, with a non-parole period of three years.

They were sentenced and imprisoned in the year 2021 after the police probe established the couple had kept the victim as a slave for eight years.

Victim was threatened to not give evidence during the court proceeding

The federal police had charged the couple in June 2016 with slavery crimes and in 2020, while awaiting trial, Kumuthini threatened the victim and cautioned her not to give proof during the court proceedings.

As per Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the victim was told: "When you go to court, say nothing. Say you don't remember. Tell the judge you are suffering from mental illness."

"Don't repeat what you are saying. If you do, you will lose everything.

"If you listen to the police, you'll never be able to leave this country, you'll be here until you perish until you die."

In February 2020, the AFP Human Trafficking Team charged the woman with attempting to twist the course of justice, contrary to Section 43 of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), and the matter was heard separately from the slavery proceedings.

As per local media reports, the exploitation of the elderly woman took place because her family was in India. Also, she did not speak English and her passport was taken away by the Kannans.

(With inputs from agencies)

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