Enslaved woman was ‘starving to death’ before discovery in Melbourne home
A Melbourne couple who kept a grandmother as a slave in their home for eight years have argued in court they weren’t responsible for her poor health.
An Indian grandmother was effectively “starving to death” after she held captive as a slave for eight years at the hands of a Melbourne couple.
Kumuthini Kannan and her husband Kandasamy were found guilty of intentionally possessing the woman as a slave and exercising the right of ownership over a slave between 2007 and 2015.
Both captors appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria for a pre-sentencing hearing on Tuesday as they face up to 25 years behind bars for the crime.
The enslaved grandmother, who cannot be named, was malnourished, with untreated diabetes, septicaemia and weighed just 40kg when found at their Mount Waverley property in 2015.
Mrs Kannan’s lawyer Gideon Boas said the Kannans were was not responsible for the slave’s untreated diabetes and branded the other illnesses “comorbidities”.
But Supreme Court Justice John Champion said the woman’s illnesses could be considered part of a “wholesale neglect” of the victim’s health.
“In effect she was starving to death wasn’t she? She was emaciated, she had septicaemia, she was in an appalling condition,” the judge said.
The grandmother was “fading away”, he said.
Mrs Kannan, a 53-year-old mother-of-three, did not apologise or express remorse for her actions.
This was consistent with her mental health issues, Dr Boas told the court.
He also argued the grandmother was not enslaved for the entire eight years and said “many domestic relationships” in the state could fall into the category of slavery.
The lawyer also said the victim’s evidence about her treatment at the hands of the couple was “manifestly flawed”.
In video evidence aired at the trial the slave said she was beaten with a frozen chicken, had hot tea poured on her and was cut with a knife.
Mrs Kannan was a very good prospect of rehabilitation and was a giving person who spent a good deal of her life dedicated to charitable causes, the lawyer said.
“Nothing like this will ever happen again,” Dr Boas told the court.
Her husband’s lawyer John Kelly SC said his client was described as gentle, dutiful, hardworking and decent.
“He’s a good man,” Mr Kelly told the court.
He said Mr Kannan’s crime was of “a lesser magnitude” and he didn’t direct the hours the slave worked or what she did.
Instead he argued his client should receive a suspended sentence.
But prosecutor Richard Maidment QC said the couple did not seek help for the woman’s health problems, which was an aggravating feature of the crime.
“Emaciation of that degree doesn’t occur overnight,” he said.
The victim’s condition was uncovered when she was found shivering in a puddle of urine at the property on July 30, 2015.
Paramedics rushed the emaciated woman to hospital where it was found she weighed 40kg, had a temperature of 28.5C, and had sepsis and untreated diabetes.
She moved to Australia in 2007 and was promised she would get paid for doing the household duties and taking care of the couple’s children.
The hearing in front of Justice John Champion continues on Wednesday.