A Vancouver-area man convicted of human trafficking in a case involving a live-in Filipina nanny was sentenced to 18 months in prison today in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
This summer, Franco Yiu Kwan Orr was found guilty of illegally employing a foreign national and misrepresenting the situation to immigration officials. He was also found guilty on a charge of human trafficking. Nicole Huen, Orr's wife, was acquitted on all charges brought against her.
Leticia Sarmiento, of the Philippines, said she worked as a nanny for Orr, his wife and their three children when she came to Canada with the couple from Hong Kong five years ago.
She testified in court that she worked 16-hour days, that she was paid a pittance and that she was lied to about gaining legal employment in Canada. In 2010, she eventually called 911 to reach out for help.
Leticia Sarmiento was brought to Canada in 2008 to work as a nanny. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)
Crown lawyers described her treatment as modern slavery, and asked that Orr go to prison for five to six years. Orr's lawyer was asking for a conditional sentence with no jail time.
At sentencing, the B.C. Supreme Court justice ruled that Sarmiento was not treated as a slave, and that the Crown did not prove she was forced to work the long hours she claimed she was.
According to the RCMP, there have been 45 convictions in Canada for human trafficking or related crimes, involving 69 people, but Orr's is the first conviction for human trafficking under the Immigration Act.
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