The India-based son-in-law of the Indian woman enslaved in Melbourne for eight years was abused when he wrote to the Kannan family to send her back to India, a court has been told.
Kandasamy and Kumuthini Kannan, the husband and wife duo have been charged with possessing a slave between July 2007 and July 2015, exercising ownership over a slave, and harbouring an unlawful non-citizen.
They are facing a committal hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court, which on Wednesday is due to take evidence via video link from a relative of the woman in India.
AAP reports according to court documents, the woman’s son-in-law wrote an email to Mrs Kannan in May 2015.
He told Mrs Kannan the woman's daughter wanted her mother to be sent back home.
However, it is claimed Mrs Kannan replied by email: "Ask her to go f*** herself!!!" and "F*** you!".
The woman was taken to Box Hill Hospital in July 2015 by emergency workers after she collapsed and couldn’t get up.
She was suffering from urinary sepsis, untreated diabetes, hypothermia, skin lesions, and all her teeth had fallen out.
She had arrived in Australia in 2007 on a tourist visa after allegedly being promised a better life and $143 a month to work in domestic duties for the Kannans.
However, she claims she wasn't paid and instead was beaten and neglected.
A Department of Immigration case manager, who saw the woman in February 2016, few months after being released from hospital, told the court that when she spoke to the woman's son-in-law, he said he didn't care about the money owed, he just wanted "his mother to be returned" to India.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has given evidence that during her eight years working for the Kannans, she had been beaten more than 10 times.
She said Mrs Kannan had hit her with a frozen chicken, poured boiling water on her legs, thrown hot tea in her face, and cut her wrist with a knife.
The couple has rejected these allegations and told the court the woman received clothing, board and food and was cared for by the couple.
The five-day committal hearing is being held to determine if the pair will stand trial.
