Moeaia Tuai is on trial before the High Court at Auckland accused of slavery, assault and sexual violation. Photo: Gill Bonnett
The trial of a man accused of slavery has heard he did not allow two young people to talk, assaulted them and told one of them she was mentally ill.
Aucklander Moeaia Tuai, aged 63, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of dealing in slaves and several sexual assaults.
A witness said when her husband - whose identity is suppressed - moved to Melbourne, Tuai gave him only $100 of his earnings a week.
He was working eight to 12 hour days for a freight company, she said, and Tuai held onto her husband's bank card, passport and other identity documents.
She told the jury at Auckland High Court on one occasion she saw Tuai try to choke him, and then sit on his head.
"He body-slammed him on the floor face forward," she said. "I heard him gasping but I couldn't do much."
Police and ambulance were called and he went to hospital.
A second complainant was not allowed to talk to either her or her husband and got 'hidings' if she took food from a cupboard, she added. That would involve Tuai's wife slapping her and on one occasion Tuai punched the back of her head or shoulders.
The woman said she and her husband decided to run away and return to New Zealand when she became pregnant.
The trial continues.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
