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An Indian grandmother was effectively “starved” after being held as a slave in the hands of a couple from Melbourne for eight years.
Kumuthini Kannan and her husband Kandasamy were found guilty of willfully possessing the woman as a slave and exercising ownership of a slave between 2007 and 2015.
Both kidnappers appeared in the Victoria Supreme Court on Tuesday for a preliminary conviction hearing on charges of up to 25 years in prison for the crime.
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The enslaved grandmother, whose name cannot be identified, was malnourished, suffered from untreated diabetes, septicemia, and weighed just 40 kg when she was found on her property in Mount Waverley in 2015.
Ms. Kannan’s attorney, Gideon Boas, said the Kannans were not responsible for the slave’s untreated diabetes and branded the other diseases as “comorbidities.”
However, Supreme Court Justice John Champion said the woman’s illnesses could be viewed as part of a “major neglect” of the victim’s health.
“She was practically starved, wasn’t she? She was emaciated, she had blood poisoning, she was in terrible condition, â€said the judge.
The grandmother has “faded,” he said.
Ms. Kannan, a 53-year-old mother of three, did not apologize or express remorse for her actions.
This was consistent with her mental health issues, said Dr. Boaz the court.
He also argued that the grandmother was not enslaved for the full eight years, saying that “many domestic relationships” in the state could fall into the category of slavery.
The attorney also said the victim’s evidence of her treatment by the couple was “manifestly flawed”.
In a video evidence broadcast during the trial, the slave girl said she was beaten with a frozen chicken, poured hot tea, and cut with a knife.
Ms. Kannan has very good prospects for rehabilitation and is a giving person who has devoted much of her life to charitable causes, the lawyer said.
“That will never happen again,” said Dr. Boaz the court.
Her husband’s attorney, John Kelly SC, said his client had been described as gentle, conscientious, hardworking and decent.
“He’s a good man,” Mr. Kelly told the court.
He said Mr. Kannan’s crime was “on a lesser scale” and that he did not determine the slave’s working hours or what she did.
Instead, he argued that his client should be given a suspended sentence.
But prosecutor Richard Maidment QC said the couple did not seek help because of the woman’s health problems, which was an aggravating feature of the crime.
“Such emaciation doesn’t happen overnight,” he said.
The victim’s condition was revealed when he was shivering in a puddle of urine on the property on July 30, 2015.
Paramedics took the emaciated woman to the hospital, where she weighed 40 kg, had a temperature of 28.5 ° C and suffered from sepsis and untreated diabetes.
She moved to Australia in 2007 and was promised that she would be paid for the couple’s household and children.
The hearing before Judge John Champion continues on Wednesday.
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