http://news.aol.com/story/nc/_a/wealthy-couple-convicted-of-slavery/20071217103609990001 CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (Dec. 17) - A jury on Monday convicted a millionaire couple of enslaving two Indonesian women they brought to their mansion to work as housekeepers. James Carbone, Newsday / AP Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, and his wife, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, arrive at court in October. They were convicted Monday of enslaving two women who were housekeepers in their Muttontown, N.Y., mansion. Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, and his wife, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, were each convicted of all charges in a 12-count federal indictment that included forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude, and harboring aliens. Prosecutors said the women were subjected to repeated psychological and physical abuse and were forced to work 18 hours or more a day. The Sabhnanis, who have four children and operate a worldwide perfume business out of their Muttontown home on Long Island's Gold Coast, could face up to 40 years in prison, although attorneys predicted the punishment would be considerably less. He is from India, and she is from Indonesia, but both are naturalized U.S. citizens One of the couple's daughters collapsed in the front row as the verdict was read, prompting the judge to clear the courtroom while medical personnel attended to her. Defense attorney Jeffrey Hoffman said he would appeal. "Apparently, the jury was taken by the histrionics ..." of the Indonesian women, he said. Prosecutors called it a case of "modern-day slavery." Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko said in closing arguments the poorly educated women worked as housekeepers for $100 or $150 a month — all of which was sent to their relatives back home. Lesko said the women, known only as Samirah and Enung, were subjected to "punishment that escalated into a cruel form of torture" that ended when one of the women fled on Mother's Day. Allegations of abuse included beatings with brooms and umbrellas, slashings with knives, being made to repeatedly climb stairs and take freezing cold showers as punishment for misdeeds that included sleeping late or stealing food from trash bins because they were poorly fed. Samirah, the woman who fled the house in May, said she was forced to eat dozens of chili peppers and then was forced to eat her own vomit when she failed to digest the peppers, prosecutors said. "This did not happen in the 1800s," Lesko said. "This happened in the 21st century." Enung testified that Samirah's nude body once was covered in plastic wrapping tape on orders from Varsha Sabhnani, who then instructed Enung to rip it off. "When I pulled it off, she was screaming," the housekeeper said through an interpreter before breaking down in tears on the witness stand. The Sabhnanis' defense attorneys contended the two women concocted the story of abuse as a way of escaping the house for more lucrative opportunities. They argued the housekeepers practiced witchcraft and may have abused themselves as part of an Indonesian self-mutilation ritual. They also said the couple went on frequent vacations that would have given the two women ample opportunity to flee. The Sabhnanis spent nearly three months in jail until a judge approved a bail package that required them to post $4.5 million and pay an estimated $10,000 a day for security monitoring while they were kept under house arrest.
Yeah!!! Another thread where I get to call people scum. I'm just waiting for the apologists to come swarming in and attribute their enslavement of their maids to autism or some other type of condition. These people are scum. Plain and simple. The whole issue of abusing foreign mades is extremely common in Asia. Especially Indonesian maids... they are a group with almost no representation in most cases. In many countries they have no legal recourse. The Indonesian government is as much to blame for setting the conditions of export labor as are all the labor importation/exportation companies/agents that take advantage of this group of people. The two maids here happen to be lucky in that this all took place in the United States where there is at least some legal recourse. If this was United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia... you wouldn't have heard word one. Well except for maybe if somehow their abuse was then blamed on the maids themselves and they were executed. Here in Hong Kong this is a problem as well and it's a huge problem in Singapore. I hope they take the millions that this couple is worth and turn it over to the maids. These people are sickening pieces of garbage. No amount of sob story or explaining are going to change that. None. Let the apologetics begin!!!
I have to admit human slavery is the one thing I would advocate the death penalty for. It is a crime beyond all others. The Bear.
Their not really bad people all they need is some structure in their lives so they learn how to deal with people. We have a good system for that. They really help you get your life in order. They tell you what to do with every moment of your life. You also get to work on your social skills as you meet new and interesting people. After about 75 to 80 years of this they will have master the ability to function as real humans.
It was . Just to add it up. Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, and his wife, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45 plus 75 years = Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 126, and his wife, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 120 = They might be ready for consideration for release to parole.
It's appalling enough that this kind of things happens at all... but in the United States? That's pretty disturbing. Anyway, I agree with bear... this is one of the things for which the death penalty is reasonable. Or mob justice. Nothing can dispense with the evils of society quite like an angry drunken mob with torches and pitchforks.
It's a great mental image. The judge sitting at his bench saying "I sentence you to mob justice - bring in the Daily Mail readers!"
