Australian Couple kept Woman as a Slave for 8 Years

An Australian couple have been found guilty of keeping an Indian woman as a slave at their Melbourne home for eight years.

Kumuthini Kannan and Kandasamy Kannan appeared at the Supreme Court of Victoria on April 23, 2021.

They were found guilty of intentionally possessing a slave.

The couple were also convicted of intentionally exercising over a slave any of the powers attaching to the right of ownership.

It was heard that they kept a 66-year-old grandmother from India at their Mount Waverley home, paying her just $3 a day to tender to their needs 24/7.

In July 2007, the victim travelled from India to Australia to stay with the Kannan’s at their family home.

She believed she was travelling to Melbourne to look after the couple’s children.

Instead, she was stripped of her human rights and kept as a slave.

Her tourist visa expired in August 2007, meaning she was an illegal non-citizen.

The victim knew the couple from their native country. As she was unable to speak English, the Australian couple took advantage and held her captive.

The victim told investigators how Mrs Kannan would punish her if she did not listen to orders.

She said: “She will take a frozen chicken, and hit my head.

“If I go and sleep then she will come and pour hot water on me.”

The couple would also lock her inside the home while they went on holidays for weeks at a time.

When the couple refused to send the woman back to India, her family called the police.

The victim was found by the authorities in 2015 when she had to be taken to hospital. She was emaciated, weighing just 40 kilograms.

She had hypothermia, diabetes and had lost all her teeth.

The woman ended up being placed in intensive care because she was also suffering from sepsis.

During the trial, the Australian couple denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the victim had made up the whole ordeal.

However, the jury found they were lying and the couple were subsequently convicted.

Following their conviction, the couple have been released on bail, so they can make arrangements for their three children who all have autism.

They have been ordered to be under house arrest. The couple can only leave to attend medical appointments and to buy food.

Sentencing will take place in June 2021. According to 9News, the couple face decades in prison.