Melbourne, Australia — A 52-year-old man was jailed in Australia today, after he deceived his Sudanese wife into leaving Australia, and subsequently left her stranded in Sudan. A Sudanese family law expert has hailed the verdict as "a victory for women". The man, who is an Australian citizen, was charged by Australian Federal Police in 2022, under exit trafficking legislation, enacted by Australia to combat human trafficking that pivots on the departure, instead of the arrival of the victim. Neither names may be revealed for legal reasons.
Handing down a sentence of four and a half years' imprisonment, the presiding Melbourne County Court Judge, Frank Gucciardo, rebuked the man: "You treated her as a chattel that could be simply discarded," the Judge said.
In a statement today, the Australian Federal Police, lead Australian investigative agency for all forms of human trafficking and modern slavery, confirmed that the man was was found guilty in a jury trial before the Melbourne County Court in April.
"The Australian Federal Police human trafficking investigation began in 2016 following a report from a Sudanese woman, who claimed her then husband, an Australian citizen, arranged for them and their two children to travel overseas for a holiday in September, 2014. At the time the woman was living in Australia on a partner visa," the statement says.
"While overseas, the man took possession of the woman's passport and personal identification documents for alleged safe keeping. Later that month, the man returned to Australia with the children and left the woman stranded in Sudan without documentation and with no means to return."
The Australian police say that before leaving Australia, the man - without the victim's knowledge - had contacted authorities to revoke his sponsorship for a partner visa and applied for financial assistance available to single caregivers.
During the man's sentencing, the Judge highlighted the planning enacted over a significant period of time and spoke to the abuse of power shown over a vulnerable person.
"This decision sends a strong message, that justice will be served and that any immoral or illegal behaviour will not go unnoticed," lawyer Hanan Hassan, former member of Family Law in Sudan told Radio Dabanga. "We hope that this ruling will be a deterrent to anyone who thinks of harming the other, even if the other is his wife, and simultaneously enhances confidence in the judiciary and the judicial system," Hassan says.
"This ruling is a victory for women, and represents a victory for the oppressed wife. We hope that this woman will find the necessary support to overcome this ordeal and be able to regain her life and rights. Justice is not only in prosecuting the spouse, but also in providing support and assistance to victims," Hassan underscored.
Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Bernard Geason commended the bravery of the victim for coming forward and trusting officers with the investigation.
"Exit trafficking is an insidious offence which is weaponised against vulnerable people, placing them in danger, far from support networks," Geason said.
During the trial, the Melbourne court heard that the Sudanese woman moved to Australia in 2012 on a partner visa following an arranged marriage in Sudan in 2010. Crown Prosecutor John Saunders told the jury that she had their first child in 2012 and their second two years later. The prosecution alleged that over those two years, her husband became aggressive, violent and controlling with his wife, including "hitting her and threatening that she would die if she did not return to Sudan".
She travelled to Sudan with her husband and two small children in 2014, for what she was led to believe was a holiday. She said that as her husband's family home was "derelict", she had to go to her parents' home to cook.
On one of these occasions, she returned to find her husband and children gone, as well as her travel documents and passport. She approached the Australian embassy in Egypt, only to hear that her visa had been cancelled.
Between October 2014 and January 2016, the woman made attempts to have her Australian visa reissued, but was consistently refused because the man would not sponsor her. She was finally granted a visa to return to Australia in February 2016, after immigration authorities became aware that she has two Australian-born children.
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At a pre-sentencing hearing in July, she told the jury that she lives in constant fear, and that being stranded without her children was "the most devastating experience of my life".
"She was grief-stricken and traumatised by the departure of her children with you," Judge Gucciardo told the man, and cited "depriving the children at this tender age" as an aggravating factor in sentencing.
According to the judgment, the former husband will serve a minimum of three years and three months in prison before he can be considered for parole.
This represents the first conviction under exit trafficking legislation in the Australian state of Victoria. In 2020, a Darwin man was charged with exit trafficking his wife from Australia to India. In June this year, a Sydney man was jailed for exit trafficking his wife to Afghanistan, according to the Australian Federal Police.
