A businessman endangered the life of his trafficking victim by delaying medical help to the stage where he had to have a leg amputated, a jury heard yesterday.
Izhar Hussain, 55, told Perth Sheriff Court he worked for Shahid Mahmood for seven years while he was an illegal immigrant in the United Kingdom.
He said he was often expected to work long hours without pay in a number of jobs and that Mr Mahmood, 52, knew he was an illegal immigrant from Pakistan.
Mr Hussain said immigration officers caught up with him after he fell gravely ill and Mahmood drove him to Edinburgh and dumped him at a hospital.
Mahmood is alleged to have trafficked and exploited the married father-of-five and endangered his life by failing to get him appropriate medical treatment.
Mr Hussain said he was working illegally in the Dundee and Arbroath area to pay for his children to be educated in Pakistan.
He said: “My foremost reason was to visit, but being a father I wanted to do whatever I could to educate my children.”
The jury was told he met Mahmood through a mutual friend in Dundee and worked 12-hour days in a guest house and a shop for £100 per week.
Mahmood, of Marketgate, Arbroath, denies endangering the life of a 55-year-old man by failing to get him proper medical help and instead taking him to a Chinese herbalist.
He denies breaking laws by employing illegal immigrant Izhar Hussain, from Pakistan, between September 6 2010 and December 10 2017.
Mr Hussain had no right to be in the UK while he was allegedly working at Kingsley Guest House, Arbroath, and Geniotech, Hilltown, Dundee.
At both those locations, and Brook Street, Broughty Ferry, Mahmood is alleged to have required Mr Hussain to perform forced or compulsory labour for long hours with little or no pay.
It is alleged he was not allowed to leave the workplace without permission or speak to his family or members of the Pakistani community between March 28 2011 and May 30 2016.
Mahmood denies that and another identical charge relating to the period May 31 2016 until December 10 2017 when the law was changed to be covered by the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015.
Mahmood further denies letting Mr Hussain become ill, severely injured and in danger of losing his life between November 1 and December 10 2017.
He denies culpably and recklessly refusing to let Mr Hussain go to a hospital or GP when he knew he had an infection in his foot and was in pain.
He denies taking him to see a Chinese herbalist and then ignoring their advice to take him to see a doctor.
Mahmood denies taking Mr Hussain to a hospital and inducing him to provide false details to staff before leaving him and giving false information to family members about his whereabouts.
The charge alleges “ultimately there was such a delay in him seeking medical treatment that he required to have his leg amputated.”
Mahmood denies all charges and the trial before Sheriff Pino Di Emidio continues.
