More jail time for Australian woman who enslaved Indian-origin woman for 8 years

More jail time for Australian woman who enslaved Indian-origin woman for 8 years

Kumuthini was previously sentenced to eight years in prison, four years without parole, for slavery.

Police said a 55-year-old Melbourne woman was sentenced to eight years in prison for enslaving a Tamil Indian woman and sentenced to two and a half years in prison for intimidation before testifying in a criminal case.

 

Kumuthini Kannan and her husband, Kandasamy Kannan, said police had previously been convicted and convicted of enslaving victims in their 60s at their Mount Waverley home between 2007 and 2015.

Kumuthini pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice during the Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation into slavery and was sentenced to two years and six months in prison on 7 July in Victoria County House Court.

The Judge ordered that the sentence would start 18 months’ before the completion of her current sentence for the slavery offences.

AFP Detective Superintendent Simone Butcher said any attempt to tamper with the integrity of a trial was of serious concern to police.

“No one is above the law, and the public should feel confident that anyone who tries to interfere with the judicial process is risking serious punishments,” Butcher said.

The police charged the couple in June 2016 with slavery offences and in 2020, while awaiting trial, Kumuthini attempted to pervert the course of justice by calling the victim to threaten her and warn her not to give evidence during the court proceedings.

Following this, the AFP Human Trafficking Team charged Kumuthini with attempting to pervert the course of justice, contrary to section 43 of the Crimes Act 1914, and the matter was heard separately to the slavery proceedings.

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