Samoan chief Joseph Auga Matamata was sentenced to 11 years in jail for 10 counts of human trafficking and 13 counts of dealing in slaves in New Zealand.
Joseph Matamata has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for slavery and human trafficking. They were told they would leave Samoa -- a small island nation in the South Pacific -- for their larger neighbour, a country with about 25 times the population. Once there, they would work and send the money back home to their loved ones.
He was also ordered to pay 183,000 New Zealand dollars in reparations to his 13 victims to partly compensate them for the estimated 300,000 New Zealand dollars his family gained from his criminal acts. Matamata has maintained his innocence. The first victims were a brother and sister aged 17 and 15 at the time. The brother expected to earn money to send home to his family, while his sister expected to finish her education in New Zealand.
In many of the cases, Matamata organized three-month visitor visas for the victims, rather than the employment visas they would need to work legally. "They cannot return to New Zealand for work and many feel this stigma and history will limit their ability to work ... for the rest of their lives," she said, noting that in many cases, coming to New Zealand had worsened their families' financial situation. "Some of the victims are hopeful for their future but many still feel a lot of guilt and pain for what occurred to them at hands.
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