Couple jailed for keeping Indian woman as slave for 8 years in Australia

Australia: A Melbourne couple was sentenced to jail for keeping an Indian grandmother as a slave in their house for eight years.

In April, Kumuthini Kannan, 53, and her husband Kandasamy, 57, were found guilty of keeping the Tamil woman as a working prisoner inside their Mount Waverley residence.

Kumuthini Kannan was sentenced to eight years in prison and her husband was sentenced to six years in prison.

According to prosecutors, this is the first time an Australian court has heard a case only regarding domestic servitude slavery, and it is also the country’s longest duration of captivity.

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However, the court heard that the pair refused to acknowledge that they had enslaved the woman and continued to ‘strenuously’ maintain their innocence.

The woman’s pitiful condition was disclosed in July 2015, when she was discovered in a puddle of pee, weighing barely 40 kg. She was suffering from sepsis, uncontrolled diabetes, and tooth loss. A little over $3 per day was paid to her to cook, clean, and care for their three children.