June 26, 2013 - 9:13 PM
VANCOUVER - A B.C. Supreme Court jury has convicted a Vancouver man of human trafficking in the case of a Filipino nanny.
Franco Yiu Kwan Orr and Oi Ling Nicole Huen were each charged after Leticia Sarmiento called police following an altercation at the couple’s home in 2010.
Sarmiento had looked after the couple’s children as a live-in nanny since 2008.
The jury has acquitted Huen of the charge.
Orr is expected to return to court July 10 to set a sentencing hearing.
During trial, Sarmiento described the day she called police after one of her employers pushed her and doused her with a jug of water before she escaped from the home.
Sarmiento, who now works as a cleaner, arrived in Canada in 2008 with Huen and Orr and their children after working for them in Hong Kong as a live-in caregiver.
It was only after police took her to a women's shelter that she discovered she'd been living in Canada illegally with a long-expired six-month visitor's visa.
Sarmiento testified that the couple told her that her working conditions would be the same as in Hong Kong, where she had two days off a week and regular hours.
But once in Canada, said Sarmiento, she was forced to work 16-hour days, seven days a week and also clean the house.
During the preliminary inquiry, Sarmiento said doors at the house were always locked from the inside and required a key to be opened.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2013