A 27-year-old man found guilty of six charges of unlawfully aiding a person to stay in New Zealand avoided a potential prison sentence yesterday.
Prubhjit Singh, a self-employed contractor, of Blenheim, was sentenced in the Blenheim District Court to 200 hours' community work and four months' community detention after he was found guilty on the charges following a jury trial this year. The jury also acquitted him on two similar charges.
Singh faced a maximum of seven years' jail and a $100,000 fine on each charge. Crown prosecutor Mike Turner said there was a degree of premeditation in assisting the six Indonesian men to stay in the country. There was a "direct benefit" to Singh because it increased the labour which he profited from.
In his closing statement at the end of Singh's trial in April, Mr Turner said the Indonesian men were attracted to New Zealand by the chance to earn money on South Korean fishing boats. But they jumped ship after conditions became terrible.
They then entered a "murky world" of illegal horticultural employment and were transported throughout the country, where they were in no position to complain about pay or living conditions, Mr Turner said.
Defence lawyer Rob Harrison said Singh had cut ties with his former business partner, which "left him a wiser and poorer man".
In sentencing, Judge David McKegg said it appeared Singh was held in high regard, based on letters written by employees and family in support of him.
Singh had become involved in the business of hiding illegal workers, he said.
"That type of offending is usually met with a term of imprisonment, but I regard you as a lesser offender."
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