Man guilty of human trafficking of nanny
VANCOUVeR • A Vancouver man accused of bringing a Filipino nanny to Canada and enslaving her has been found guilty of human trafficking charges, while his wife and coaccused was acquitted.
Following two days of deliberations, a B.C. Supreme Court jury convicted Franco Orr of the charges involving Leticia Sarmiento. His wife, Nicole Huen, was acquitted.
“My clients are in shock, frankly,” said Nicholas Preovolos, a lawyer for the accused. “They’re stunned. The jury believed a number of allegations about Mr. Orr but not the allegations against Ms. Huen.”
It’s believed to be the first such conviction for human trafficking in Canada.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $1-million fine.
But Mr. Preovolos said Orr was a 50-year-old father of three children, all under the age of 10, and had never been in trouble with the law before. He called for a sentence of house arrest.
“He is not a danger to the public. He won’t hurt anyone.”
The Crown declined to comment. A date for sentencing has been put over to July 10.
The nanny, Ms. Sarmiento, testified that she was brought to Canada with promises that the couple would help get her permanent resident status within two years and help bring her three children to Vancouver from the Philippines.
The 40-year-old nanny told the jury that life was good for her while she was caring for the couple’s three children in Hong Kong but that things changed dramatically when she arrived in Canada in September 2008.
Ms. Sarmiento said she was suddenly required to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week, with no days off and no statutory holidays.
There was a domestic helper in Hong Kong, who did the household chores such as cooking and cleaning, but Ms. Sarmiento said that in Canada she had to do those chores in addition to her caregiving duties.
She said that after a temporary visitor visa was acquired in Hong Kong, the couple withheld her passport from her.
In Canada, they restricted her movements and prevented her from talking to anyone, she claimed.
But the couple’s lawyer argued that she had lied under
My clients are in shock, frankly. They’re stunned
oath, citing a dozen examples in which she was allegedly not telling the truth. The defence also claimed that she was motivated by a civil lawsuit that she had filed against the couple, a suit that has yet to be heard in B.C. Supreme Court.
Orr took the stand in his own defence and told the jury that Ms. Sarmiento had begged to accompany the family to Canada after he told her that his financial situation had worsened and that he would have to fire her.
He denied the alleged mistreatment in Canada and said that after Ms. Sarmiento’s temporary visitor visa expired, she pleaded with them to allow her to stay in Canada.
In 2010 she called 911 and told responding officers she needed help. She told the trial she called the police after an altercation over the type of milk she fed one of the children turned physical when Ms. Huen pushed her.