WATCH: A man who was enslaved for 40 years in England
A case of modern slavery...
Never ever did we think that this would be something that was carried over into our current state of life. But the sad reality of the situation is that these kinds of stories still do exist.
"Peter Swailes, 56, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to keeping a man in a wooden shed in his garden for four decades. The enslaved worker, who is now in his 60s, told UK law enforcement he spent his days doing painting and slating work on farms for the two Swailes men." (Business Insider)
The man was being housed in a dark shed with no light or heat. Authorities got a tip-off about the conditions that this man was being kept in. And that he was being paid around R210 a day for his work.
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Watch the video footage of the shed that he lived in, courtesy of YouTube:
The authorities noted that the living circumstances that he had to endure were in a far worse condition than the living conditions of the Swailes family dog.
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This has been a really harrowing investigation. In all my years in law enforcement, I have never known a modern slavery case where the exploitation has taken place over such a long period of time. First and foremost in my mind at this time, though, is the victim. Let's remember that he has been exploited for all his adult life up until just a few years ago. He is now in his early 60s. This is something that, even now, I struggle to comprehend. For four decades, he was, in effect, kept as a slave.
Image Courtesy of YouTube