U.S. woman questioned about treatment of Indian servant who claims she was kept a prisoner

MARY ESCH 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Valsamma Mathai’s son in India, Shiju, was so concerned for her welfare he called the National Human Trafficking Resources Center in 2011. Submitted photo

ALBANY, N.Y. — A woman accused of cheating an Indian servant out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in pay and keeping her a virtual prisoner at a mansion said Thursday that a tape recording that appears to show she knew the woman was in the country illegally was not her voice.

Annie George repeated earlier testimony that she didn’t know Valsamma Mathai was in the United States illegally and that she didn’t mistreat her during the 5 1/2 years she worked in her New York state home.

Mathai has testified that she slept in a closet, worked long days without vacation, days off or sick time and wasn’t allowed to leave the property.

The case surfaced when Mathai’s son in India, Shiju, called the National Human Trafficking Resources Center in 2011.

George is charged with harbouring an illegal immigrant for financial gain, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine upon conviction.

On Thursday, she said the tape recording of a phone call between a woman and Shiju Mathai, which prosecutors played Wednesday, wasn’t her voice. She didn’t say who she thought the voice belonged to.

On the call, the woman warns Shiju there could be dire consequences, even jail time, for his mother if she was to tell authorities about working in the United States.

George said she was left in desperate financial straits when her husband died in 2009. She said she knew nothing of his business dealings, including the arrangement to have Mathai live with them, because he severely punished her if she tried to make any decisions in the home.

Her late husband, Mathai George, was a native of India who built a hotel and real estate development business in the United States. He was killed in 2009 along with his 11-year-old son and another man when their private plane crashed after takeoff.

In his closing arguments, defence lawyer Mark Sacco said Annie George was a traditional Indian wife and mother who deferred to her husband on all decisions and was cruelly punished if she didn’t.

“The government is prosecuting Annie George because Mathai George isn’t here,” Sacco said.

He suggested Shiju Mathai launched the investigation because he was unhappy that his mother was sending less money home after Mathai George died.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Belliss said Annie George was an intelligent woman with a graduate degree in pharmacy who, even if she didn’t directly know Valsamma Mathai’s immigration status, was smart enough to figure it out.

Valsamma Mathai came to the United States legally on a visa after her husband died of cancer, leaving her the sole provider for her two sons and ailing mother. When she left the original family she was with, she was illegal because it violated the terms of the visa, Belliss said.

13:57ET 07-03-13

Tags: Annie George, human trafficking, illegal immigrant, Valsamma Mathai