Two sisters have each been sentenced to seven years in prison after being found guilty of trafficking six Indonesian women for labour exploitation.
Sessions Court judge Norhazimah Shaiffuddin ruled that Lie Ying Har, 59, and Lie Ying Ping, 56, had failed to raise reasonable doubt against the prosecution’s case.
In delivering the decision today, Norhazimah said the sisters had withheld the victims’ wages for several years without lawful justification, leaving the six women financially dependent on them.
She also noted that the women’s passports had been kept by the accused, restricting their freedom of movement and making it more difficult for them to leave the situation.
The six Indonesians were initially hired as domestic workers but were subsequently made to work at the sisters’ convenience and toy shops, the court heard.
Norhazimah said the victims were unable to object to the arrangement because the sisters had control over their finances and wages.
“One of them never received her salary from 2012 to 2020 and was told that she did not have a valid permit. This caused her to fear moving around and being caught,” she said.
The judge added that the other five victims had testified that they were afraid of being reprimanded or harmed by Ying Ping if they made mistakes while working.
The women also did not know how their wages were calculated or paid, according to the court.
Norhazimah described the circumstances faced by the six victims as amounting to “modern slavery”, saying their consistent accounts demonstrated how the sisters allegedly used unpaid wages as a means of control.
She said the victims’ reluctance to leave because they feared losing the wages accumulated over several years was a clear indication that withheld salaries had been used as a mechanism to control and coerce them.
“It is a clear indication of how the withholding of wages was used as a mechanism of control and coercion over the victims by the accused persons,” she said.
The sisters were initially charged on 27 November 2020. Ying Har faced two charges under Section 12 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act, while Ying Ping was charged with five offences under the same provision.
Both women had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
