A Tayside businessman accused of failing to get medical treatment for an illegal immigrant he trafficked has been cleared of the charges against him.
Shahid Mahmood, 52, walked free from Perth Sheriff Court after being cleared of endangering the life of Pakistani national Izhar Hussain, 55.
The Crown said they were no longer seeking a conviction after a jury heard three days of evidence from Mr Hussain.
He had told the court he had to have a leg amputated after developing a diabetic ulcer which had been ignored by his employer Mahmood.
Mr Hussain said he had worked illegally in a number of jobs for Mahmood for seven years after staying in Scotland illegally when a visitor’s visa ran out.
He said he had to work long hours in a guest house, a cargo business, in a shop and as a handyman and was sometimes paid the equivalent of £50 per week.
He accused Mahmood of dismissing his claims that he was seriously ill because he did not want to be linked with an illegal immigrant.
Mahmood eventually took Mr Hussain to see a Chinese herbalist and then dumped him outside Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where his infection was so severe he required a double amputation.
He said Mahmood was desperate to avoid helping him get hospital treatment because the NHS would ask questions about his immigration status.
The jury was told his right leg had become severely gangrenous as a result of a diabetic ulcer and was amputated below the knee on December 14 2017.
Mr Hussain said Mahmood and his soon took away his mobile phone on the way to the hospital because their names were listed as contacts and they did not want linked to him.
Mr Hussain told the jury he suffered an ulcerous foot infection which began with his toenails turning black and led to his right foot swelling massively in size.
He said Mahmood ignored him or told him to get back to work when he begged for a holiday and he said was eventually confined to bed in agony.
He said that he had Type 2 Diabetes and had been taking medication in Pakistan which controlled it. He said Mahmood did not help him get medication in Scotland and he “just left it to Allah.”
Mr Hussain, speaking through an interpreter, told the jury that he was working illegally in the Dundee and Arbroath area to pay for his children to be educated in Pakistan.
Mahmood of Marketgate, Arbroath, denied four charges including human trafficking and endangering the life of Mr Hussain and was formally acquitted of them all.
