A Canadian court has sentenced two Bangladeshi men to prison for trafficking and exploiting a Bangladeshi woman, with one of them also convicted of repeatedly raping her.
Md Masum, 45, was sentenced to 14 years in prison, while Sohel Haider, 56, received a four-year term, CBC News reports.
Both men were convicted of human trafficking earlier this year. Masum was also found guilty of three sexual assaults, which Judge Miguel Martinez described in simpler language as “rapes”.
The court also ordered Sohel to pay the woman $5,885 in restitution for unpaid wages and Masum to pay $12,268.
The woman went to Canada as a temporary foreign worker. According to CBC News, she first worked at Sohel's restaurant in Gull Lake and later at Masum's restaurant in Tisdale.
She was underpaid, made to work long hours six days a week and did not have proper work permits, CBC News reports.
The charges covered the period from Aug 1, 2022, to Mar 31, 2023. She later obtained a permit to work at a restaurant in Elrose and fled with help from people who were concerned about her situation.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said the men had “destroyed her life”.
“I can't forget them. They stopped my dream. They destroyed my life. They ruined my honour, my future, my family, my career,” she told CBC News.
She also said gossip about her in Bangladesh had damaged her family's honour. Once independent, she now depends on others, and questioned her decision to come to Canada, where she felt like a product sold to a customer, CBC News reports.
Crown prosecutor Leslie Dunning had sought a 15-year sentence for Masum on one human trafficking count and three sexual assault counts, and five-and-a-half years for Sohel. Dunning argued the men were in positions of trust and controlled “virtually every aspect of her life”.
Masum had exploited the woman “for his own sexual gratification”, including assaults involving violence, the prosecutor said.
Masum's lawyer Zachary Carter sought a sentence of seven to nine years, describing it as “substantial”. Sohel's lawyer Chris Gratton argued for the four-year mandatory minimum.