An Indian-origin Melbourne couple who were jailed in 2021 for enslaving an old Tamil woman for eight years have been imposed with a fresh penalty, the Australian Federal Police revealed on Friday. Kandasamy Kannan, 61, and his wife, Kumuthini, 58, must pay $140,000 in combined penalties to the state, in addition to the penalties that they are serving. The police ordered that they would have to forfeit the money they got from the sale of their house in 2016. According to reports, Kumuthini has agreed to pay a pecuniary penalty of $100,000, while Kandasamy will pay a penalty of $40,000 in addition to the forfeited equity and interest from the 2016 sale amounting to more than $475,000.
Victim came to Australia on a tourist visa, was held captive by Kannans as a maid
The victim, who is from India, was reported missing by her family since 2007 while performing domestic duties for the Kannans. According to Sky News, the victim was admitted to hospital in 2015 under a fake name after she collapsed and was discovered ‘hypothermic’ in a pool of urine. At that time, she weighed 40 kg. The victim told the court that she was forced to cook, clean and care for the couple’s children and received just $3.36 per day. She told the authorities that she was beaten with a frozen chicken and was burned with boiling water. The victim’s son-in-law mailed to the Kannans begging for the woman’s release but Kumuthini responded: ‘F**k you’.The couple were convicted on two counts of keeping and using the woman as a slave. The woman was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment with parole eligibility in four years, and the man was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with parole eligibility in three years.The victim was a widow in India, and she came to Australia twice to live with the Kannans in 2002 and 2004 before returning again on a one-month tourist visa in 2007. She could not leave after one month as she was kept as a maid and forced to work 23 hours a day.
