Mt Waverley couple ‘not sorry’ for keeping secret slave

A couple who kept a slave have shown no remorse for their crimes, but say there are “exceptional circumstances” why they shouldn’t be jailed.

Kandasamy Kannan was found guilty of keeping a grandmother as a slave. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

A woman convicted of harbouring a slave in her home for eight years has dedicated her life to helping others, but is not sorry for enslaving the elderly woman, a court has heard.

Mother-of-three Kumuthini Kannan and her husband Kandasamy were in April found guilty of possessing and using the Tamil grandmother as a domestic slave in their Mt Waverley home.

Eight years after arriving in Australia on a 30-day tourist visa, authorities discovered the illiterate woman lying in a pool of urine, with no teeth, a dangerous Sepsis infection and weighing just 40kg.

At a pre-sentence hearing in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Tuesday, Justice John Champion said the woman was “in effect starving to death” and in an appalling condition when she collapsed and was rushed to hospital in July 2015.

But the husband and wife argued they treated the woman as a member of the family and were charitable and dutiful members of the community.

Kumuthini and Kandasamy Kannan .

During the 10 week trial, the slave – who cannot be named – told the court she was forced to work 23 hours a day, beaten with a frozen chicken, had boiling water poured over her legs and was only allowed to shower once a week.

The Kannan’s had been accused of locking the victim in their home for up to a month at a time while holidaying overseas and told the woman’s family to “get fed” when they asked for their mother to be allowed to return home to India.

But during Tuesday’s plea hearing defence barrister Dr Gideon Boas, for Kumuthini, said the accusations of mistreatment were “manifestly flawed” and there was no evidence to support the woman’s accounts.

Dr Boas said there was “no universe” in which the slave’s working life was anything like she reported.

“It’s confusing, it’s incoherent and obscure … its difficult to know with any certainty what was going on in that house,” Dr Boas said.

Dr Boas submitted the offending was on the lower end of the scale and suggested there were many domestic relationships all around the country that could fall into the broad category of slavery.

Dr Boas said his client had been diagnosed with a major depressive disorder, had no criminal history, had dedicated her life to charitable causes and demonstrated a “passion for helping others”.

The 53-year-old had not, however, apologised or shown any remorse towards the woman she kept as a slave, the court heard.

Meanwhile, John Kelly SC, for Kandasamy, argued his client should be given a suspended sentence “exceptional circumstances” of his situation, which included caring for two disabled teenagers.

More than a dozen character references were submitted on behalf of the Kansans, which Mr Kelly said described his client as a “gentle, dutiful … and decent” person.

The couple face 25 years in prison.

The pre-sentencing before Justice Champion continues.