Reduction in dog fouling statistics revealed
ALLEGED victims of a takeaway boss and landlord accused of modern slavery offences told a court he assaulted them.
Hargit Bariana is alleged to have used six vulnerable men as “slaves” and prosecutors say he “bullied, coerced and forced” them to work for no money.
Bariana denies the accusations and is standing trial at Newcastle Crown Court on eight modern slavery charges, counts of robbery and being concerned in the supply of diazepam.
One of the alleged victims claimed Bariana, known as Harry and Barry, made him work in his shop, Antonio’s, in Newsham, Blyth, Northumberland.
The man, a heroin addict at the time, told the court: “He used to try to control us. He would drive us there, pick us up and stuff.”
Asked by Bariana’s barrister, Tom Finch, what Bariana had done to stop him taking heroin, he replied: “He brayed me in the car. Punched me in the face.”
When Mr Finch suggested Bariana had tried to help him, the man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: “He didn’t help me at all. If he helped me I would not have gone to jail.”
The man told how he had since moved away from Blyth, got off drugs and initially did not want to be involved in the prosecution of Bariana.
He said: “I didn’t want to be involved in this and I forgot about the stuff that happened in Blyth.
“They (the police) said I had to go to court, they said I had to go and help because it would be better for everyone else, all the other people that had been involved.
“They said other people were involved in the same kind of thing. They said other people had been treated in a horrible way.”
Asked why he had not reported what had happened to him earlier, he said: “No-one would believe me. I’m just a druggie.
“I didn’t think anyone would be bothered about me. I didn’t think anyone else would care about me.
“I’m no-one to anyone, I’m just forgotten about.
“I would not even have told anyone about this if they didn’t insist.”
Wiping away tears, he added: “I don’t even want to sit here and talk about it.”
The man said there were times he hid from Bariana so he didn’t have to go to work at the takeaway.
He said: “There were times I had to hide from him. “I used to get beat up if I didn’t go. “I was hiding from the police and from him.”
He added: “I did everything he said. He worried me. He hit me.”
When it was put to the witness that he was never hit by Bariana, he replied: “He did hit me. I know for a fact he hit me.”
He added: “He did hit me and he forced me to go and work in the chippy. I’m not lying about that.
“I was in the shop as much as he could get me to go there.”
Another alleged victim claimed he was “slapped” by Bariana while living in a property he owned.
He said: “I didn’t pay him on time once because I had to wait for my benefits. He thought I was lying, he thought I had already had the money to pay him but I didn’t.
“That’s when he slapped me. I’ve got a witness.”
Mr Finch said: “You’re lying, aren’t you?”
The man replied: “No I’m not lying. It’s true, he slapped me.
“I said nothing. He just stormed out of the room.”
When Mr Finch put it to him that Bariana used to bring him and other tenants food, he replied: “It was just the leftovers basically.”
The witness said he was not asked to work in the takeaway but was asked to clear rubbish from the back yard at the property in Blyth owned by Bariana where he was staying.
Bariana, 46, formerly of North Farm Cottages, Bebside, Blyth, and currently of Blue House Farm, Netherton Colliery, Netherton, Northumberland, denies eight modern slavery offences of requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, robbery from one of the alleged victims and being concerned in the supply of diazepam.
Denise Lillico, 51, of Byker, Newcastle, is accused with Bariana of supplying diazepam. She denies the charge.
The trial continues. FEWER fines for dog fouling were handed out in Northumberland last year compared with the previous year.
The number of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued between May 2017 to April 2018 was 87, down from 98 in the previous 12-month period, and the number of dog fouling complaints received by the county council decreased by 25%. The figures, which also show that the fines brought in £5,240 last year, down from £6,580, were revealed at the a council meeting last week in response to a question from Coun Georgina Hill, ward member for Berwick East.
Coun Glen Sanderson, the cabinet member for the environment and local services, said that the fall was “largely because of the carrot-and-stick approach the council is now taking”. He added: “The council introduced in July last year the Green Dog Walkers’ Club and we’ve just signed up our 1,000th member, but where dog fouling does take place we take that very seriously and we’ve increased the size of our enforcement team.
“I am optimistic that the way we’re approaching this is working and I thank all our front-line officers very much for their work.”