Man cleared of exploiting carer after charge sheet error

A man who was convicted of human trafficking and exploiting and ill-treating a carer has been spared a two-year jail term on appeal.

Harish Daswani, 43, was prosecuted six years ago after the Indonesian woman  whom he had employed through a recruitment agency in Singapore as live-in carer for his father fled the family home, telling police how she had been exploited and abused.

The alleged victim had travelled to Malta on June 6, 2013. She was met at the airport by Daswani and his wife, who paid flight expenses and promised to pay the woman a monthly salary of €770, starting from the seventh month of her employment.

Yet, just over a year later, on June 8, 2014, the carer fled the family home, reporting to police how she had suffered physical violence and insults at the hands of her employer, besides claiming to have worked long hours without a day off and without being paid.

In November 2019, Daswani, who had an otherwise clean conduct sheet, was declared guilty of human trafficking and of causing the victim to fear violence, landing a two-year effective jail term and a €5,000 fine. 

He appealed on various grounds, his lawyer claiming, by way of a preliminary plea, that the...