A Victorian man who tricked his wife into traveling to Sudan and then brought their children and passports back to Australia has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison.
Following a trial in the County Court, the 52-year-old became the first person in Victoria to be convicted of human trafficking in April, where he was forced, threatened or tricked into leaving Australia against his will. He became a person.
The man has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied cheating on the woman, who was left stranded in Sudan for 16 months. The woman's name cannot be published for legal reasons.
Judge Frank Gucciardo said the man's crime “required a degree of premeditation”.
“You simply treated her as chattel to be thrown away,” he said.
“She was heartbroken and traumatized by the loss of the children she had with you.”
The man must serve at least three years and three months in prison before becoming eligible for parole.
He appeared in Melbourne County Court on Tuesday morning wearing a gray jumper and beige pants. Mr Gucciardo said the man “deliberately misled” his wife into believing he had a valid visa to return to Australia during a trip to Sudan in September 2014.
“What you didn't tell her was that your cancellation of her visa in June 2014 would jeopardize her visa application,” he said.
The man told her he was on holiday and then left Sudan with the children, leaving her stranded for 16 months, the court heard.
Mr Gucciardo said the woman would not have left Australia “if she had known the truth about her visa status”.
Mr Gujardo said the man returned to Australia with the couple's two children under the age of two and his wife's passport.
Gucciardo said “the disenfranchisement of children at such a young age” was an aggravating factor in the crime.
It said the “abrupt separation” from her children had caused the woman “immeasurable physical pain and suffering.”
The court heard that after her husband left Sudan, the woman contacted the Australian embassy in Egypt and was told her visa had been cancelled. After the woman received legal and migration support, the Home Office issued her a temporary visa and allowed her to travel to Australia at the end of February 2016.
Gucciardo said the man was well-educated and a man who cared about his community.
However, he said that the perpetrator bears a heavy moral responsibility and that the man lacks remorse and insight into his crimes. He said he was unlikely to reoffend and had a good chance of rehabilitation if he gained insight into his actions.
At a pre-sentence hearing in July, the court heard the man's ex-wife describe being left without their children as “the most harrowing experience of my life”.
In a letter read to the court, she said the children endured “unimaginable suffering” after they were taken away without her consent. She said one of her children has severe separation anxiety and worries that if her mother leaves the house, she will never return.
The man's attorney, Brett Stevens, argued the two children were not victims of a crime.
He said the children were not suffering from separation anxiety at the time of the crime and that no other circumstances, such as family court proceedings, could have contributed to the impact on the children. He said no.
After an arranged marriage in Sudan in 2010, the woman moved to Australia on a partner visa in 2012 with the help of her husband, the court heard. She gave birth to her first child in 2012 and her second two years later.
Australian Federal Police indicted the man in 2022.
