NY millionaire gets prison for enslaving workers

[struggle4progress]

Source: Associated Press

By FRANK ELTMAN

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A millionaire who inflicted years of abuse on two Indonesian housekeepers held as virtual slaves in her Long Island mansion was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison ...

The victims testified that they were beaten with brooms and umbrellas, slashed with knives, and forced to climb stairs and take freezing showers as punishment. One victim was forced to eat dozens of chili peppers against her will, and then was forced to eat her own vomit when she couldn't keep the peppers down, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Arthur Spatt called the testimony "eye-opening, to say the least — that things like that go on in our country" ...

"I just want to say that I love my children very much," the defendant told the court as two of her grown children looked on. "I was brought to this Earth to help people who are in need" ...

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jBr01Uk1hYUWVPqB_-Us4SEM-UBAD91HVOKO0

[JanMichael]

1. Please stop giving Marxists more ammo!

Whoops...Thanks I mean:-)

[opihimoimoi]

2. She shoulda got 25 years to LIFE....I hope those women were compensated $324364758697 each

[notadmblnd]

3. What, she thinks she some kind of celestial being?

"I was brought to this earth to help people." She's a pretty sad excuse for a human being, I can't imagine what her maker thinks of her.

[jwirr]

4. In what luxury prison?

[Ian David]

5. Prosecutors suggested the women were due more than $1.1 million, while defense attorneys said...

Prosecutors suggested the women were due more than $1.1 million, while defense attorneys said the figure should be much lower.

You know...

At some point, shouldn't the defense attorneys have stopped arguing about money, just so they their clients might... MIGHT... be able to claim even some tiny bit of humanity or remorse?

[FloridaJudy]

6. Well, there's some justice at least

I hope the former slaves sue her for all she's worth in civil court. I'd love to be on that jury!

[ejbr]

7. I would guess she will go to Rikers or some hardcore/regular prison

Then, she will reenact her abuses for the other prisoners, with her being the slaves and true to life action. 11 years of that should sort her out.

[Thothmes]

10. Federal Case, most probably

will go to the Federal womans prison Alton, West Virginia. Thats where Martha Steward did her time. JMO.

[provis99]

8. so the convict got less than the federal guidelines

Sure helps to be rich.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Republicans surely love their cheap labor, don't they? Lord love them.

From the article:

The women, whose relatives in Indonesia were paid about $100 a month — the women themselves received no cash — said they were tortured and beaten for misdeeds that included sleeping late or stealing food from trash bins because they were poorly fed. Both women also said they were forced to sleep on mats in the kitchen.

So she and her husband stole these womens' lives, and their peace of mind and self-respect for years, then fought like demons against the idea of making financial restitution to them. They were last seen being led off boasting of their great humanitarianism, never pausing to apologize, to admit they had harmed living beings like themselves, had seized their energy, their trust, their well-being and spit on them.

So utterly right-wing.

[Joe Bacon]

11. They ought to bring back the chain gang for stuff like this

The millionaire defendant should be put on a chain gang and have their butts busted repeatedly over this.

[kay1864]

12. Here's her ugly mug:

Looks a bit older than 46, eh? I guess evil rots from the inside...



and her husband, who is due to be sentenced later.

[UpInArms]

13. what's up with this paragraph?

Hoffman said that around 2004 or 2005, Sabhnani's weight plummeted from 325 pounds to 135. "She did it by starving herself," and that resulted in a chemical imbalance and significant malnourishment. "She had become a very different person."

Huh?