Couple Enslaved Elderly Woman For 8 Years, Made Her Work 23 Hours Daily; Jailed

A couple in Australia has been jailed for secretly enslaving an elderly woman for eight years and forcing her to do household chores for almost 23 hours every day.

Kumuthini Kannan, 53, and her husband Kandasamy Kannan,57, from Melbourne, were sentenced Wednesday for keeping the woman, a native from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu as a slave at their home from 2007 to 2015. Kumunthini was jailed for eight years while Kandaswany was ordered to serve six years in jail, reported news outlet The Australian.

The couple kept the abuse as their "dirt secret" until July 2015, when Kumunthini was eventually forced to call emergency officers as the woman's condition deteriorated. Even when the victim was lying in a pool of urine, she delayed calling the ambulance as she had to take her children to a school concert, the court heard.

By the time emergency officers arrived, the victim's temperature dropped and they found her in a severely malnourished condition, weighing around 88 pounds. The medical examination revealed that the victim also suffered from diabetes and septicemia, which were left untreated.

However, Kumunthini refused to reveal the victim's details and she was hospitalized under the wrong name. The police meanwhile approached the couple enquiring about the victim based on complaints from her family in India. The couple lied and got away until September 2015 when the family’s lawyer contacted the investigators informing them that they wish to apologize, The Guardian reported.

The victim, now in her 60's, arrived on a 30-day tourist visa to Australia in 2007, to do domestic duties and to take care of the couple’s children in return for payment of roughly $3.39 per day. The couple did not permit the victim to go back despite her several pleas. She was forced to work up to 23 hours a day caring for the couple’s children, cooking, cleaning and doing chores. The victim told the court that she was beaten with frozen chicken and had hot water thrown at her.

The court observed that the victim was "illiterate, vulnerable and uneducated" and enslaving her was a "crime against humanity."

"What can I do, helpless,” the victim told the court in a taped interview.

The victim who was hospitalized until October 2015, was shifted to a care home later where she currently lives.

“You both grossly exploited a vulnerable person for which you should be ashamed ... I am quite convinced that you both believe you did nothing wrong,” Justice John Champion said during sentencing Wednesday.