A WITNESS has testified in the trial of a businessman who has been accused of forcing a woman to work without pay or days off and then firing her for ‘nagging too much.’
The expatriate defendant who ran a now-shut-down perfume store near Bab Al Bahrain had denied human trafficking charges at the High Criminal Court last week.
However, the 37-year-old Pakistani earlier admitted to not paying his female employee because the store had gone bankrupt and he could not afford the wages.
A defence witness, the manager at the defendant’s company, stood before judges yesterday to testify during the trial of his fellow national, who he described as a ‘friend.’
Speaking in Urdu through a court-appointed translator, the man told the court that he helped the Pakistani woman get the perfume store job.
“I received a call from a dear friend, who asked me to find his sister (the alleged victim) a job, so I arranged a job interview with her and the defendant,” he said after swearing an oath.
“I went to Pakistan in April 2022 and, when I came back in August, I received a call from her, telling me that she was owed eight to 10 weeks’ wages.
“I talked to the defendant, who informed me that he couldn’t pay the salaries because the store had to be shut down.”
According to the defendant’s lawyer, the alleged victim had come to Bahrain on a tourist visa to visit her brother, but decided to stay to look for a job.
The lawyer added that she was being paid BD60 a month to work an eight-hour shift, despite court documents indicating that her salary was BD230.
“When she did not receive her wages, the victim lodged a labour complaint against the defendant, but he ended up being prosecuted in the criminal court,” the lawyer added. “This is simply a labour issue – he did not force the woman to work and should have never been accused of human trafficking,” he suggested.
The GDN earlier reported the alleged victim’s claims that the defendant kept deducting money from her promised salary. Court documents added that he eventually fired her, saying that she ‘nagged too much.’
The now-unemployed Pakistani woman also claimed that her former boss refused to return her passport even after she was fired.
Commercial registration records indicate that the defendant owned 10 per cent of the perfume store. Its commercial registration was cancelled last month.
The hearing was adjourned to June 12.
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