Franco Orr and his partner Oi Ling Nicole Huen arrive at the B.C. Supreme court in downtown Vancouver, B.C. Thursday, May 30, 2013. Crown lawyers are seeking a five to six year prison term for Vancouver resident Franco Orr, convicted of forcing the family's nanny to live as a modern-day slave. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
October 15, 2013 - 9:30 AM
VANCOUVER - Crown lawyers are seeking a five to six year prison term for Vancouver resident Franco Orr, convicted of forcing the family's nanny to live as a modern-day slave.
Sentencing is expected today in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver for the 50-year-old, who was convicted of human trafficking in June.
Court was told Orr used deception to bring 40-year-old Leticia Sarmiento into Canada and then forced her to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week with little or no pay, conditions Sarmiento testified she endured for 22 months before calling police.
Orr was also convicted of employing a foreign national illegally and misrepresenting the situation to immigration officials but his wife, Oi Ling Nicole Huen, was acquitted on all counts.
Orr's lawyer is seeking a conditional sentence, noting the father of three does not have a criminal record.
Sarmiento told the court she had freedom and income while working for the family in Hong Kong and was promised she could eventually bring her own children to Canada if she stayed with the Orrs when they moved to this country.
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News from © The Canadian Press, 2013