The sentencing proceedings in the trial of seven Chinese nationals found guilty of human trafficking and child labour, which were expected to begin at the Johannesburg high court on Friday, were postponed until April 29.
Counsel for the defence, advocate Jannie Kruger, applied for the postponement as he was still studying the judgment that found the accused guilty on February 25.
Kruger also told the court the defence was yet to obtain medical evidence of accused number six Dai Junying, who he said had been “hit by a stroke”.
Kruger’s request for a postponement was granted.
Junying, Kevin Tsao Shu-Uei, Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao and Zhang Zhilian were found guilty on 160 counts, including human trafficking, aiding/facilitating human trafficking, bondage, benefiting from victims of human trafficking and assisting illegals to remain in South Africa.
They were also found guilty of not registering with the Compensation Fund and declaring their operations, failure to keep records of their earnings, failure to submit their return on earnings, failure to pay and declare assessments, failure to maintain a safe workplace, failure to report incidents, failure to register with the Unemployment Insurance Fund commissioner and failure to inform the commissioner on unemployment insurance changes.
They were arrested on November 12 2019 in a joint operation carried out at their premises — Beautiful City Pty Ltd — based at Village Deep in Johannesburg. The joint inspection blitz was carried out by the department of employment and labour's inspection and enforcement services branch, with the police and department of home affairs officials after a tip-off.
“The joint operation uncovered illegal immigrants, some of whom were minors, working under horror conditions and kept in the locked premises of Beautiful City. The factory produced cotton fibre sheets,” the department of employment and labour said in a statement.
The accused were remanded, except for Junying who is out on medical grounds. She came to court in a wheelchair.
TimesLIVE
Sentencing of Chinese nationals in human trafficking case postponed
Journalist
Image: Department of employment & labour
The sentencing proceedings in the trial of seven Chinese nationals found guilty of human trafficking and child labour, which were expected to begin at the Johannesburg high court on Friday, were postponed until April 29.
Counsel for the defence, advocate Jannie Kruger, applied for the postponement as he was still studying the judgment that found the accused guilty on February 25.
Kruger also told the court the defence was yet to obtain medical evidence of accused number six Dai Junying, who he said had been “hit by a stroke”.
Kruger’s request for a postponement was granted.
Junying, Kevin Tsao Shu-Uei, Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao and Zhang Zhilian were found guilty on 160 counts, including human trafficking, aiding/facilitating human trafficking, bondage, benefiting from victims of human trafficking and assisting illegals to remain in South Africa.
They were also found guilty of not registering with the Compensation Fund and declaring their operations, failure to keep records of their earnings, failure to submit their return on earnings, failure to pay and declare assessments, failure to maintain a safe workplace, failure to report incidents, failure to register with the Unemployment Insurance Fund commissioner and failure to inform the commissioner on unemployment insurance changes.
They were arrested on November 12 2019 in a joint operation carried out at their premises — Beautiful City Pty Ltd — based at Village Deep in Johannesburg. The joint inspection blitz was carried out by the department of employment and labour's inspection and enforcement services branch, with the police and department of home affairs officials after a tip-off.
“The joint operation uncovered illegal immigrants, some of whom were minors, working under horror conditions and kept in the locked premises of Beautiful City. The factory produced cotton fibre sheets,” the department of employment and labour said in a statement.
The accused were remanded, except for Junying who is out on medical grounds. She came to court in a wheelchair.
TimesLIVE
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