Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1285850
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 SEPTEMBER 2020 NEWS Watch your distance, keep a 2 metre distance from others. Avoid crowds! LET US KEEP EACH OTHER SAFE! Wash your hands regularly using soap and water for at least 20 seconds or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer! Wear your mask properly, always cover your nose, mouth and chin. Your mask protects me. My mask protects you! 2 m C M Y CM MY CY CMY K COVID19 - Advert Eng & Mlt - 2020 (6th Sept) Final.pdf 1 03/09/2020 12:01:53 MATTHEW AGIUS A man who allegedly forced an indentured female employee to eat a spoonful of salt as pun- ishment, saw his conviction for human trafficking overturned on a technicality. Harish Daswani, 45, was ac- cused in 2014 of trafficking Oriance Kelin from Indonesia for the purposes of exploitation, causing her to fear violence, threatening her and failing to comply with employment law. Court reports from the time state that Kelin was allegedly insulted, beaten up, and forced to eat a spoonful of salt after the meal she had cooked was deemed "too salty". The woman had been brought from Indonesia via the Home- made recruitment agency in Singapore to care for Daswani's father. She said her promised €770 monthly salary never ma- terialised. And while admitting that he had never paid Kelin any wages, Daswani told the prose- cuting inspector that he had transferred around €1,200 for her flights and to cover a loan she had. Daswani claimed Kelin had not given him her bank de- tails, and that she preferred not to be paid in cash. In November 2019, Daswani was found guilty of human traf- ficking and causing the wom- an to fear violence, and con- demned to imprisonment for two years, with a €5,000 fine. A protection order was imposed in favour of Kelin. But on appeal, Daswani's lawyers argued that the pros- ecution had failed to prove that the allegations of human trafficking had taken place in the period mentioned in the summons. "[The] only acts that should have been consid- ered by the Court were those allegedly committed between 8 June, 2013 and 8 June, 2014. Had the prosecution wanted to charge applicant with acts committed before that period it should have stated 'on the 8th June, 2014 and in the preced- ing months and years'," they argued. Daswani's counsel argued that the offence of human traffick- ing had to establish the "behav- iour which facilitates" this, and that it would have to precede the recruitment or transporta- tion of the person. Daswani had admitted that Kelin would work seven days a week, but was allowed Sun- day mornings off up till 2pm. The woman had never worked more than 40 hours per week, he claimed, due to the minimal nature of the tasks she had been given to do. But he admitted that he had slapped Kelin once, yet his law- yers argued that any alleged mistreatment happened after the alleged offence of human trafficking, and was not to be taken into consideration under the human trafficking charge. Madam Justice Consuelo Scer- ri Herrera observed that it was "amply clear" that the relation- ship between the Daswani fam- ily and Kelin had deteriorated when it transpired that her be- haviour was not only unsuitable to her employer's requirements, but that it could potentially en- danger his elderly father's life. In a 63-page judgment, the judge noted that even though one of the payments towards Home Maid Agency PTE Ltd took place while Kelin was al- ready in Malta – and therefore during the period mentioned in the charge sheet – arrange- ments and therefore the behav- iour facilitating the entry were made prior to the date in the charge sheet. "Even though the complain- ant continued residing with the accused, his wife and the father of the accused throughout the period mentioned in the charge sheet… the behaviour facilitat- ing the entry and residence took place before the complainant arrived in Malta and therefore not in the period mentioned in the charge sheet." The court upheld the first ground of appeal and said the first court could not have found guilt of the first charge in view that not all the elements of the offence took place in the period mentioned in the charge sheet. magius@mediatoday.com.mt Forced labour conviction overturned on technicality Harish Daswani