Worthing care home couple's trial for human trafficking
A COUPLE illegally recruited and exploited untrained immigrant workers who cared for vulnerable elderly people at two Worthing care homes, a court heard.
The trial of Anbanaden Chellapermal, 61, and his wife Shamila Seenyen-Chellapermal, 56, began at Chichester Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday, May 20).
The couple are charged with seven human trafficking and immigration offences at care homes Glen Eden, in Richmond Road, and Carleton House, in St Lawrence Avenue, between November, 2007, and July, 2008.
David Scutt, prosecuting, said the couple were part of an international trafficking network which lured poor Mauritian workers to the country with the promise of wages four times what they could earn at home.
Chelsea Flower Show
He said a recruitment agency on Mauritius provided cover letters allowing the workers to enter the country as visitors – but, on arrival, they were put to work on 13-hour shifts caring for elderly people suffering from dementia, and paid 450 a month – the sum they had been told would be their weekly wage.
One cover letter claimed the worker concerned, Jean Larose, was visiting the Chelsea Flower Show.
The letter for his wife, Jessica Larose, said she was visiting the country to do the bride's hair at a wedding.
Mr Scutt said the Mauritian workers were told by the Chellapermals they would be supplied with false French papers to allow them to stay in the UK, for which they were charged 2,200.
Doctor ban
The Chellapermals also banned workers from visiting doctors, said Mr Scutt, to prevent the illegal operation being uncovered.
He said: "These were people in authority, people that might lead to the discovery of what was going on."
He said one worker, Ragenee Oodit, developed a foot problem while working in one of the homes.
Instead of seeking medical help, the Chellapermals gave her cream taken from one of the residents.
Illegal status
Mr Scutt said the couple hoped the workers' knowledge of their own illegal status would prevent them going to the police.
He added that the couple also employed foreign workers already resident in the UK whom they knew were not allowed to work.
One Zimbabwean woman, Lucy Tsikira, performed more than 400 hours of cleaning at the homes, for which she was paid a total of 15.
Mr Scutt said the operation was uncovered when immigration police began investigating the homes last June.
Immigration search
On July 1, when immigration police executed a search warrant at both homes, three out of the five staff found on the premises were illegally working.
The homes were closed after the couple were arrested.
Mr Scutt said the Chellapermals claimed to police that the illegal staff worked voluntarily and denied rotas showing their names marked down for numerous shifts had any significance.
The Chellapermals deny all the charges.
The trial continues.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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