Accused human trafficker vowed to ‘shoot everyone’ during custody battle: court
A Sydney father allegedly tried to traffic his wife and baby daughter to India and then cancel their paperwork before they were able to return, a court heard.
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A Sydney father who allegedly trafficked his wife and their baby daughter to India threatened to bring a gun to court and “shoot everyone”, his bail application heard.
The 30-year-old Lidcombe man allegedly forced his Indian wife and their Australian-born child to fly to India against their will in March 2017.
On Tuesday the accounting student was refused bail in the NSW Supreme Court, which heard he was convicted of breaching domestic violence restraining orders three times in 2018 and 2019.
Police caught the father, who cannot legally be named, at Sydney airport as he allegedly tried to flee the country with a significant sum of money while on bail in November 2017, the court heard.
The Indian-born man is currently serving an 18-month sentence for stalking his estranged wife and she is so afraid for the safety of their daughter she’s delaying her education over fears he’ll turn up to preschool, Crown prosecutor Richard Perringon said.
Justice Michael Walton said that during a Family Court child custody matter in October 2018 the father had to be forcibly restrained by security after approaching the registrar, swearing and yelling abuse in Hindi before vowing to “bring a gun to court and shoot everyone.”
“That’s a lie, your honour!” the father said on Tuesday.
The court heard that in February 2019 the father came to his estranged partner’s home and intimidated her and her mother.
Justice Walton said “it is not difficult” to imagine the fear the alleged victim must have for her family’s welfare.
The father’s lawyer argued he is an Australian citizen who has lived in the country since 2008 and was not a flight risk.
But the judge found the father has strong community ties in his birth country, while Mr Perringon argued his India-based mother’s ailing health was an “added temptation” for him to source a fake passport and flee.
An anti-slavery group tipped off police in May 2017 after the husband allegedly gave false information to the immigration department in an attempt to cancel his wife’s visa and his infant daughter’s passport while they were in India.
He’d bought them both a one-way plane ticket, however the woman and the two-month old girl were able to return to Sydney before their paperwork was cancelled, police allege.
The wife had called triple-zero two months prior complaining that her husband had bashed her after she’d tried to refuse his orders to leave Australia.
The father has pleaded not guilty to human trafficking, which carries a maximum penalty of 12 years.
He’s also denied charges of document forgery, general dishonesty, three counts of domestic violence assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The man’s sister and brother-in-law offered up a $5,000 bail surety and said he could live with them effectively under house arrest.
But Justice Walton denied the father bail, stating his history of flouting bail conditions and apprehended violence orders raised “very real concerns” for the safety of his estranged wife and their daughter.
The father will face trial in September.