Three deny exploiting vulnerable man with forced job
THREE people exploited a vulnerable Latvian man by forcing him to work and taking his wages after arranging for him to come to Wales, a court has heard.
The alleged victim was said to have turned up to work in the same dirty clothes every day and was given little food or money.
Rolands Kazoks wanted to move to the UK for a better life after working in Germany but upon his arrival in Newport he was alleged to have been threatened to pay off a debt of thousands of pounds or he would be in trouble and his family in Latvia would be forced to pay the money.
It is also claimed he was forced to clean the house but wasn’t allowed access to his own wages or allowed to shower.
Normunds Freibergs, 40, of Morley Close, Newport, Jokubas Stankevicius, 59, and Ruta Stankeviciene, 57, both of Capel Close, Newport, all deny requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour. Freibergs also denies arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploitation, and acting as an unlicensed gangmaster.
A trial at Newport Crown Court yesterday heard Mr Kazoks came into contact with Freibergs on a website called Draugiem, the Latvian version of Facebook. He was told he would have work in a bakery for £8.20 an hour, and would having living costs of £85 a week. He saved £1,000 while living in Germany and sent between 600 and 800 euros to Freibergs, who was said to have asked for deposit.
But upon arriving at the home of Stankevicius and Stankeviciene in Newport, prosecutor Lowri WynnMorgan said the alleged victim was stopped from showering and was not allowed to wash his clothes very often. It was claimed he was also made to clean the entire house every week. Any mail addressed to him was sent to Freibergs’ address, the prosecution says.
Ms Wynn-Morgan added: “Mr Kazoks will say that while living at the Capel Crescent address he was threatened by Mr. Freiburg and Mr Stankevicius. They told him, in effect, that if he said anything or left without paying his debt he would be in trouble and his family would suffer.
“They told him that bad people in Latvia would force his family to pay the money, and that Mr. Stankevicius had been to prison and knew other criminals. The prosecution’s case is that these threats were designed to force Mr Kazoks to work by intimidation, to live in poor conditions and hand over the majority of his wages to the defendants.”
Freibergs was said said to have charged Mr Kazoks £50 to obtain a National Insurance number and to open a bank account and set up a Gmail account so payslips could be sent by email. But the defendant was said to have kept the password for the account.
It was alleged that Freibergs gave the impression through his Facebook profiled that he worked for a recruitment firm called Thomas
Recruitment but in reality he used the agency to find intermittent factory work. Pictures on his profile showed him sitting in an office at a computer desk with the Thomas Recruitment logo on a wall behind him.
He was said to charged the alleged victim £300 for help to obtain employment through Thomas Recruitment, which rose to £600 with interest. He was alleged to have charged him a further £300 after the victim gained employment at a chicken factory.
Before his employment, Mr Kazoks was unable to pay his rent so the debt was transferred to Stankevicius with interest accruing. After gaining employment at a chocolate factory but he lost his job due to is lack of English and while he was unemployed the debt grew to £2,000, comprising £1,000 living costs and £1,000 in interest.
Ms Wynn-Morgan said the alleged victim was required to pay £85, which rose to £95 for internet and further raised to £150 a week due to Brexit. Stankevicius was said to keep a list on the fridge detailing Mr Kazoks’ debt. The prosecutor added: “Mr Kazoks was provided with some sandwiches for lunch and given an evening meal, but was allowed very little money and was effectively living without money.”
The court heard if Mr Kazoks asked for money, he was told when he had paid off his debt he could “buy whatever he wanted”. It was claimed he was given small amounts of money for travel costs to work but had no money for clothing, with his other clothes becoming dirty and tattered.
On on occasion, the alleged victim was said to have taken his passport to work and was shouted at by Stankevicius who was alleged to have said “How dare he take his passport without permission before he had paid his debt off” and told him if he did it again he would be homeless. From then on, Stankevicius kept the passport in his bag.
Accounts were said to have been opened in Mr Kazoks’ name by Freibergs into which thousands of pounds were deposited and removed. The amount of wages paid into these bank accounts between December 2017 and October 2018 were £10,004. Analysis of the bank accounts showed the accounts were registered to Freibergs’ address and transfers from these accounts were made to
accounts belonging to Freibergs and Stankevicius and attempts were made by Stankevicius and Stankeviciene to withdraw money
Mr Kazoks began working at Faccenda Foods in Abergavenny in December 15, 2017, but his coworkers became concerned for his welfare as he didn’t have much food and appeared to be wearing the same clothes every day. A collection was held for him to buy trainers after he turned up for work in the winter wearing sandals. Other workers also said they shared they food with him after he watched them eating.
On October 9, 2018, an employee took Mr Kazoks to the company’s HR department after he said he was “ready to talk”. The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and police were called and the three defendants were arrested on October 26.
The defendants were interviewed and claimed they “felt sorry” for Mr Kazoks and had tried to help him. Freibergs claimed he had helped the alleged victim gain employment and said the transfers between the accounts were Mr Kazoks repaying him if they had been out. Stankeviciene claimed the alleged victim was free to rent elsewhere but remained at their property because he “liked her food”, and he had put on 10 pounds in weight. Stankevicius denied every verbally or physically abusing Mr Kazoks and claimed he had borrowed money from him for his daughter’s operations.
Concluding her opening, Ms Wynn-Morgan said: “The prosecution’s case is that Mr Freibergs recruited Mr Kazoks to come to the UK in order for him to be exploited. Mr Freibergs posed on Facebook as someone who worked at Thomas Recruitment. When Mr Kazoks was referred to him, he informed Mr Kazoks that he could secure employment for him in a bakery and that living costs would be £85 per week.
“Thereafter he took money from Mr Kazoks before Mr Kazoks left Germany as a deposit for securing employment, knowing that thereafter Mr Kazoks would be placed with accomplices Mr Stankevicius and Mrs Stankeviciene, his wages pilfered, and that he would be threatened and kept in miserable conditions and required to work to pay off contrived debts.”
The trial continues.