A crooked fast food restaurant owner from the north of England has been jailed for eight and a half years after being found guilty of forcing vulnerable alcoholics to work for little or no pay.
Harjit Bariana compelled his victims to toil in slave-like conditions for up to 13 hours a day in exchange for scraps of food, alcohol and drugs.
Bariana, who confiscated the men’s clothing and shoes in a bid to prevent them from fleeing, would violently assault his victims if they refused to carry out his instructions, and would routinely ply them with diazepam, Valium and cheap alcohol to keep them addicted and under his control.
The 46-year-old was jailed today after previously being convicted at Newcastle Crown Court of six modern slavery offences against four people and of supplying diazepam.
Sentencing Bariana, Judge Sarah Mallett said: “This was, in my view, commercial exploitation. Your business model was largely predicated on free labour and the most minimal expenditure into your business to extract the maximum profit.
“You exploited their vulnerability by way of addiction, you fed and encouraged their addiction to alcohol and, on occasions, drugs.”
A woman who lived close to the shared property where Bariana kept the men told the court how she would hear him screaming at them, and how he would regularly show up with large men to intimidate his victims.
One man who was forced to work in two of Bariana’s restaurants every day for five months described how he was handed scraps of food to eat at the end of each shift, along with a bottle of spirits such as whisky, which he would have to pay for.
Another victim described how he worked in Bariana’s restaurants for 10 hours a day without pay, and was given two litres of cider at the end of each shift.
Bariana forced his victims to apply for welfare benefits to pay for their rent, and used their vulnerability and need to keep a roof over their heads to bully them into doing whatever he asked of them.
The takeaway boss, who has previous convictions for dishonesty, illegal money lending, selling counterfeit goods and making threats, could now face a Proceeds of Crime hearing that could see him stripped of his assets.
During the trial, Christopher Knox, prosecuting, said: “[The defendant] exploited people who he knew were vulnerable in all cases because they were either homeless, or near homeless, they had drug or alcohol dependencies or both.
“They were in practical terms people at a low ebb and were easily bullied, coerced and forced to do work.
“Not at the end of a pitchfork or gun, but by coercion of one form or another.”
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