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A Vietnamese man employed to work on a Korean fishing boat in New Zealand waters was regularly beaten by his masters and was not paid for eight months, a court has been told.
The claim was made yesterday in the Napier District Court, where the man claimed how he eventually jumped ship in New Zealand and paid 33-year-old Vietnamese New Zealand resident Thu Huynh $300 for finding him work.
The man is one of eight men deported from New Zealand who have returned as witnesses in a depositions hearing in which Thu faces 16 charges of aiding and abetting immigrants to work illegally in New Zealand.
Three more people have also returned to take part in a similar case next week involving another Vietnamese, part of what Immigration Service officers believe is one of the biggest illegal labour scams in New Zealand.
The witness had a permit to work as a fisherman in New Zealand waters, but it did not allow him to work while in the country. He met Thu at Lyttelton in October 2004.
Along with three other Vietnamese ship-jumpers, he was taken to the inter-island ferry at Picton and told he would be met by another agent when the ferry reached Wellington, the court heard.
They were then taken to Hawkes Bay, and began work in orchards and vineyards.
They were told they would earn $500 to $700 a week. He never achieved those rates, and on one occasion $300 was deducted, apparently because Thu had told his employer he had not paid the $300 he had handed over in Nelson, the court was told.
He said Thu had cheated the workers.
The man was giving evidence on the second day of a hearing expected to end tomorrow.
- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY
