NEW ZEALAND – A Fijian woman who the Crowns says was trafficked into New Zealand wanted to give her seven daughters a better life, a jury has been told.

Suliana Vetanivula gave evidence in the High Court in Auckland at the trial of the man who is accused of exploiting her.

Fijian national Faroz Ali admitted eight charges of helping people breach their visa conditions and 18 charges of not paying his employees the minimum wage.

He pleaded not guilty to a further 31 charges, including human trafficking.

Immigration New Zealand alleged he charged 16 people including Vetanivula large sums of money to work in New Zealand.

It said he facilitated their unlawful entry into the country and employed them, or arranged for them to be employed, in breach of visa conditions.

The maximum penalty for people trafficking is 20 years in jail or a $500,000 fine.

Crown prosecutor Luke Clancy told the jury Ali, his wife, and his sister in-law placed advertisements in a Fijian newspaper for workers to travel to New Zealand with the promise of good money and accommodation.

He said the 16 workers who applied for the jobs were scammed and when they arrived in New Zealand the conditions they worked under were not what had been promised.

“Mr Ali exploited this people for his own financial gain- for his greed,” Clancy told the court. “When the workers arrived here they were met with over-crowded conditions, some without a bed.”

He said the victims of Ali were poor people living in difficult circumstances often with no experience of travelling or working overseas.

One of the workers Ali was accused of organising to New Zealand was Vetanivula.

She told the court she found an advert in the paper and went to Suva to meet with the travel agency which advertised it.

“I paid them $200 Fijian dollars – which is not much more than a weeks wages for my husband. I was then told I would have to pay a lodging fee of $258 and an admin fee of $300.”

She told the court she had paid the money because she knew it would be worth it with the promise of earning NZ$17 an hour if she moved to New Zealand

“I wanted to provide a better life for my seven daughters and I worked out I could earn $900 a week on $17 an hour.”

Defence lawyer Peter Broad sai Ali was not in Fiji when the newspaper advert was published so he did simply not know what the workers had been promised.

More of the Fijian workers are expected to give evidence as the trial continues.

Tourist stayed in hut for a month after husband killed

NEW ZEALAND – A tourist whose partner died after falling from the Routeburn Track in New Zealand’s South Island lived in a Department of Conservation hut for nearly a month before she was rescued this week.

Police said they started searching for the Czech couple after learning they had not been heard from since late July.

They found the couple’s car at the start of the Routeburn Track in Otago and soon after, found the woman at a DOC warden’s hut.

The woman told officers her partner fell down a steep slope on July 28, Inspector Olaf Jensen said. She said she managed to climb down to him but he died not long after.

The woman then made her way to the warden’s hut, where she had been staying since early August, Insp Jensen said.

She has been taken to hospital for assessment and was in good health, but “understandably upset” by everything that had happened, he said.

Search and rescue teams would return to the track later to try to find her partner’s body.

The case was “highly unusual”, Insp Jensen said.

“It very unusual for someone to be missing in the New Zealand bush for such a long period without it being reported.”

Officers would talk to the woman again today to try to piece together what had happened.

Information on DOC’s website for people tramping the Routeburn Track during winter warns that conditions can be very wet and cold, and alpine areas are usually covered in snow.

“The Routeburn Track generally takes three to four days to complete, with Routeburn Falls and Lake MacKenzie huts the main sources of shelter.

Both huts sleep about 50 people but do not have wardens over winter.

- RNZI