Fresh charges in Mt Waverley slave case

A Mt Waverley woman who kept an elderly grandmother as a slave allegedly posed as a Tamil interpreter in a bid to stop her victim from speaking up.

Kandasamy and Kumuthini Kannan were jailed after they were found guilty of keeping a woman as a slave. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

A woman jailed for enslaving an elderly grandmother threatened her victim to withdraw her statement ahead of her trial, a court has heard.

Kumuthini Kannan, 53, allegedly pretended to be a Tamil interpreter and phoned the woman at her aged care residence on February 16, 2020.

In the hour-long phone call from 8.03pm, Kannan is accused of telling the woman that she had no friends, no-one would believe her and the police and lawyers would not help her.

“If you repeat what you say you will lose everything,” Kannan allegedly told her.

The details of the call emerged on Friday in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court where Kannan is facing charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and committing an offence on bail.

Kumuthini Kannan allegedly posed as a Tamil interpreter to try and stop her victim talking to authorities. Picture: David Crosling

Prosecutor Krista Breckweg told the court Kannan was on bail awaiting her trial for slavery offences in the Supreme Court when she made the call.

Telstra records showed the call was made from a public phone inside the Forest Hill Chase shopping centre, she said.

“CCTV footage shows a female who it is alleged is Ms Kannan, walking through the centre … and is observed on the phone, holding the receiver, making notes during the call,” Ms Breckweg said.

“The next day, Ms Kannan was arrested and she was wearing the same clothes she was wearing when she made the call.”

Ms Breckweg said only someone with intimate knowledge of the case could have made the call.

She said the victim, in a statement, believed the phone call was designed “to confuse me and attempt to persuade me”.

The caller “didn’t want me to open my heart in court”, the victim said, “and thought I might change my mind about giving evidence”.

Ms Breckweg said the complainant was “extremely distressed” after receiving the call.

“She is a victim of domestic slavery,” Ms Breckweg said.

She told the court the offending spanned between 2007 and 2015, and involved denying the woman dental and medical care and not allowing her to leave.

She said Kannan exploited the woman’s lack of English and forced her to work 24/7.

When the complainant was discovered in July 2015, Ms Breckweg said she was emaciated, with one doctor describing her as “fading away”.

“She had crusted lesions on her feet and hands, and multiple pressure sores,” Ms Breckweg said.

Ms Breckweg outlined details of the case as she pushed for the complainant to be spared giving evidence at a hearing next month to determine if there is sufficient evidence for Kannan to stand trial over her alleged intimidation.

“It will be extremely traumatising emotionally for her to revisit the circumstances of the call,” Ms Breckweg said.

She later withdrew the application, with the magistrate highlighting special arrangements can be made for the woman to give evidence remotely with support in place.

In April, a jury found Kannan and her husband, Kandasamy, 57, guilty of possessing and using the woman as a domestic slave in their Mount Waverley home over eight years.

Kannan was sentenced to a maximum eight years behind bars after Supreme Court judge John Champion found her more culpable than her husband, who will serve a maximum of six years.

Kannan will return to court on October 1.