Sask. woman tells human trafficking trial she had to share bank pin with employer

WATCH: A Bangladesh woman who is an alleged human trafficking victim testified in Rosetown court on Wednesday, speaking about living in a cold and dark basement

A Bangladeshi woman at the centre of a human trafficking trial linked to three Saskatchewan restaurants says her employer told her she could only keep a fraction of her earned wages.

The woman, whose name is protected under a publication ban, testified in a makeshift courtroom in the Rosetown Elks Hall on Wednesday, as the Crown questioned her about her understanding of the employment agreement and living situations while working at restaurants in Tisdale, Gull Lake and Elrose.

Mohammad Masum and Sohel Haider were each charged on June 29, 2023 with one count of trafficking a person. Masum also faces three counts of sexual assault.

The trial has been plagued with delays – originally starting in September 2024, with five days scheduled for proceedings.

On Monday, the defence filed a Jordan application to have the case thrown out for breaching Masum and Haider’s rights to be tried within a reasonable time. The judge is expected to produce a written decision on that application before the accused take the stand.

On Wednesday, court heard testimony from the woman about her unusual employment arrangement with the restaurant owners, including allegations that she was forced to share her debit card pin so her employer could withdraw money from her newly-created Canadian bank account.

• Get the latest news from Saskatoon, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

Through a Bengali translator, the woman testified she was told she would be paid $1,000 per month until she got her Canadian work permit – for a fee of $12,000. She said she worked from around 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. five days a week, and in exchange, she was offered a place to stay and one or two meals per day.

The woman testified she was told she would move to an hourly pay rate of $24 an hour after she got her work permit. The catch, according to her testimony: she would have to give her employer her debit card so they could withdraw funds from her account, leaving her with just $1,000 in earnings from each paycheque.

“Why are you taking the rest?” the woman testified she asked Haider, who owns Bob’s Diner in Elrose and owns a house in the community where she stayed several days in an unfinished basement she described as cold and dark.

“He said to me to keep quiet, shouted at me and said ‘don’t talk too much,’” she said.

Shortly after, she said she sent the pin in a text message to him.

She said he never explained why he needed to dock her pay.

She says Haider told her he would help her with her immigration paperwork and that he was good friends with a lawyer, and the woman said it was Haider who told her he could get the work permit for $12,000.

She said she didn’t trust him, but she didn’t know the immigration process and she didn’t know who to turn to.

Several photos were submitted into evidence showing the home in Elrose where the woman stayed before deciding to flee.

She told court there had been some updates to the space, including new furniture in the basement room where she testified she slept on a mattress on the floor with no sheets or pillows.

“It was cold down there,” she said, and the bathroom was very dirty.

“I didn’t feel safe there.”

The woman testified she called Haider and told him she didn’t want to work there anymore, and she didn’t care about the permit. Court heard she asked him for a ride to Saskatoon, so she could get to the airport.

He said he wasn’t near Elrose at the time, and he would speak with her later in person. She says he never showed up, but his niece stopped by with a space heater and two slices of pizza.

After several days, she said she called a friend to pick her up and take her “to a safe place.”

In an interview outside the courthouse, Haider dismissed the RCMP’s allegation that the woman was forced to stay in the basement, as if she did not have freedom of movement.

He said that made it sound like the plot “from a Hollywood movie.”

“She was there for two days,” said Haider. “Not that she had to be.”

The trial resumes on Friday, with defence getting an opportunity to question the witness. A decision on the Jordan application is expected at a later date.