Eight Indonesian nationals who worked illegally for two years throughout New Zealand jumped ship after allegedly being beaten and mistreated by the crew of the South Korean fishing boat they were working on, the Blenheim District Court heard yesterday.
The ship operated out of New Zealand ports, and the eight Indonesians fled without their passports, as they had to surrender those to the captain to begin work on the vessel.
The Indonesians are witnesses in the trial of Prubhjit Singh, a 27-year-old self-employed Blenheim labour contractor. He has denied eight charges of aiding a person to stay in New Zealand unlawfully in May 2007.
Judge David McKegg explained to the jury that the Crown had to prove that the foreign workers who were allegedly illegally employed by Singh were in New Zealand unlawfully, that the accused aided them, and that he did so for material gain.
In his opening argument, Crown prosecutor Craig Stevenson told the court the Crown would show that the eight Indonesians allegedly employed by Singh were working in New Zealand without work permits.
They had work permits allowing them to work on a South Korean fishing boat operating out of New Zealand, but had jumped ship following "harsh conditions" aboard, Mr Stevenson said.
"[The Indonesian workers] experienced harsh conditions, pay, working hours, and general treatment by the Koreans. Most of them were beaten by the Korean crew they worked for."
The Indonesians then travelled to Hawke's Bay, Nelson and Marlborough, working illegally in horticulture.
While in Blenheim for about a month in May 2007, the men were allegedly employed by Singh, who they knew as "Happy".
Mr Stevenson alleged that Singh knew they were in the country illegally, put the men up in a three-bedroom house while they were working for him, and advised them on how to avoid the police and the Immigration Service.
He also alleged that Singh deducted "tax" from their pay, which never found its way to the Inland Revenue Department, and supplied the Indonesians with South Korean passports to give them new identities, to help them deceive immigration authorities.
"This was [Singh's] business; this was his livelihood," Mr Stevenson said.
Defence laywer Rob Harrison said in his opening he would be "very brief", and that the opening argument was not the time for a full explanation of Singh's defence.
He told the court there were some questions that needed to be answered.
"How did [the workers] come to work for the accused? How long for, and did they work for the accused at all?"
Mr Harrison said there were other men, known by the names of Prince, Kevin and Beldev, whose roles would be heard by the court during the trial.
The trial is set down for two weeks. The jury has been reduced to 11 after a juror stood down when he realised he had prior knowledge of the accused.
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