>> ASIAONE / NEWS / THE STRAITS TIMES / STORY

		Wed, Dec 19, 2007 The Straits Times
NY 'slave masters' guilty on all counts
CRYING uncontrollably, Ms Enung, an Indonesian maid, told a jury how she had been forced to wrap her naked co-worker in sticky tape. Once Ms Samirah was completely encased, Ms Enung was made by their employer to pull the tape slowly off her co-worker's skin, causing her excruciating pain. 'She was screaming,' Ms Enung, 47, had told the jury during a sensational six-week trial which ended on Monday with guilty verdicts for both the employer, Indonesia-born Varsha Sabhnani, 46, and her India-born husband Mahender, 51.

But over five years, the women were physically and psychologically abused in a case which prosecutors have described as one of 'modern-day slavery'.

Their nightmare only ended in May this year when Ms Samirah, 51, was found wandering the streets dressed in pants and a towel after escaping from the couple's home while taking out the rubbish.

Now, the couple face up to 40 years in jail.

Identified as the primary culprit, Varsha Sabhnani fainted in court as the verdicts were read out on Monday and was later treated in hospital.

Her husband was charged with the same crimes because he allowed the abuses to take place and benefited from the work the women performed in his home.

The couple were found guilty on all 12 counts they were charged with, including forced labour, debt servitude and harbouring illegal immigrants, as the Indonesian women's temporary work visas had expired.

The couple, both naturalised US citizens, ran a multi-million dollar perfume business from their US$2.5 million (S$3.6 million) mansion in Muttontown, Long Island, and sent back just US$100 a month to the women's families in Indonesia.

During the trial, the jury heard from Ms Samirah - who was said to have suffered most of the abuse - how she had once been forced to eat her own vomit after throwing up when her employer made her consume chillies as a punishment.

The maids would be punished for even minor transgressions, such as not seeking permission before beginning a chore.

The women were hit with fists, brooms, a rolling pin and, on one occasion, a Pyrex dish. They were also made to take freezing showers.

Ms Enung said they were inadequately fed and subsisted on a few slices of bread, doughnuts, a few cupfuls of rice and scraps stolen from the rubbish bin, including mango peels.

She said that once she was so hungry she 'stole' two pieces of chocolate from a candy dish.

As a punishment, Varsha Sabhnani forced her to stand still for several hours until she confessed.

It was only when Ms Samirah escaped that the authorities were alerted to the abuse. She was treated at a local hospital for injuries to her ears, face, arms, neck, chest and back.

Ms Enung was later found in the home hiding in a closet.

LOS ANGELES TIMES- WASHINGTON POST, REUTERS, NEW YORK TIMES

Torture in millionaire's mansion

FOR five years, Indonesian maids Enung and Samirah were subjected to physical and psychological abuse in the Sabhnanis' plush mansion.

Ms Enung was forced to:

• Rip sticky tape from her co-worker's naked body after the latter refused to eat 100 raw chilli peppers;

• Take 30 showers in a three-hour period;

• Climb up and down a staircase as many as 150 times in a row;

• Stand still for several hours after taking two pieces of chocolate from a candy dish because she was hungry;

• Eat leftovers from the rubbish bins because she was starving.

Ms Samirah was:

• Forced to walk around naked;

• Made to eat her own vomit after the chillies she was forced to eat caused her to throw up;

• Scalded with boiling water, hit with a rolling pin and pricked with a kitchen knife;

• Poked with an umbrella until she bled.