AFP swoops on Kilburn home in Adelaide AFP raid, Cristhian David Diaz Suarez remanded in custody

A Kilburn man has faced court in Adelaide amid claims of horrific crimes against a youth group from overseas.

A Colombian national living in Adelaide’s western suburbs subjected members of a Venezuelan youth group to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, including locking them in cupboards for days, police say.

Cristhian David Diaz Suarez was arrested on Thursday at his Kilburn home by Australian Federal Police officers who had been investigating him for several months.

AFP arrest a Colombian man in after AFP investigators executed a search warrant at the man’s Kilburn home yesterday (14 November, 2024) where they arrested him and seized electronic devices and documentation. Picture: AFP

AFP arrest a Colombian man in after AFP investigators executed a search warrant at the man’s Kilburn home yesterday (14 November, 2024) where they arrested him and seized electronic devices and documentation. Picture: AFP

The Australian Federal Police allege the 38-year-old:

HELPED members of a youth group he formed in Venezuela migrate to Adelaide in 2015 and 2016.

TOOK control of their passports upon their arrival.

SUBJECTED them to persistent and severe control, abuse and servitude.

TRACKED their movements and restricted their daily activities.

SCHEDULED daily compulsory chores.

CONTROLLED their earnings and unreasonably enforced debts he demanded they repay.

ISOLATED them from friends and loved ones by restricting or overseeing their contact with relatives overseas.

LOCKED them out of the group home or, on a number of occasions, inside cupboards for multiple days at a time.

After seizing Mr Suarez’s electronic devices and documentation, officers charged him with one aggravated count of causing debt bondage, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

They further charged him with one aggravated count of causing a person to remain in servitude, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

It is believed to be the first time those federal offences have been prosecuted in SA – if convicted, they carry a maximum 20-year prison term.

In the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday afternoon, Hugh Woods, for Mr Suarez, said his client would not be making an application for bail.

The commonwealth prosecutor asked the court to schedule the next hearing for Mr Suarez just before Christmas.

He was remanded in custody and will return to court in mid December, unless he applies for bail in the meantime.

Court records have revealed Mr Suarez’s alleged offending took place between February 1, 2016 and May 1, 2024, in Blacktown and Baulkham Hills in New South Wales, as well as Seaford, Magill and Kilburn in South Australia and other places.

AFP arrest a Colombian man in after AFP investigators executed a search warrant at the man’s Kilburn home yesterday (14 November, 2024) where they arrested him and seized electronic devices and documentation. Picture: AFP

AFP Detective Superintendent Melinda Adam said the priority of the investigations was the welfare of the alleged victims.

However, without commenting on the current allegations specifically she said police would not hesitate to lay charges if there was evidence.

“Servitude practices, including debt bondage, occur when people are subjected to conditions to which they had not agreed,” she said.

“Victims are significantly deprived of personal freedom in all aspects of their life, and threats, coercion or deception are often used against them.

“Offenders usually benefit or profit off vulnerable people who cannot, or will not, report exploitative conditions out of fear of retribution by perpetrators, social isolation and financial dependence on offenders.

“The AFP urges people to be aware of the indicators of slavery-like practices and report anything that may seem suspicious.”