I used to work in a bar and this Chinese man started coming in. He would always sit at the bar and over a couple of months we became friends. One day he came in looking upset and i asked him what was wrong. He worked at a restaurant nearby and he told me that he and his wife had been smuggled into the UK illegally. The man who owed the restaurant had paid for this and he and his wife now pretty much belonged to this man, they both had to work for him at a very low wage until the debt was paid off. He had excepted this situation as it was better than the conditions they had escaped from in China. Until earlier that day - his wife had come to him distraught, crying for forgiveness. The restaurant owner had made her have sex with him, it was not strictly rape but she had felt she had no choice. He knew he could no longer work for this man, but if he ran from his debt he would be hunted down and killed, he could not go to the police or they would be deported. He asked me for my advice.....
2007-03-01 05:01:23 · 10 answers · asked by miss oxon 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
This happened about 3 years ago. He never came in the bar again, so I never found out what happened, I couldn't think of any advice to give him and it has always bothered me.
2007-03-01 05:04:22 · update #1
What happened to the wife WAS rape, even if she "consented" to it, because her consent was forced.
There is no good answer in this situation, and no good solution. It just sucks all around. The only possible escape I could see would be if they got the help of a good immigration lawyer to intervene on their behalf. The police are, ultimately, more concerned with catching the ringleaders of these smugglers than they are with deporting the individual victims/workers. So the lawyer could have asked the cops for a deal - grant the couple amnesty in exchange for information about the smugglers. If the couple could reveal who smuggled them in, who bought them, etc, Interpol could, hopefully, catch and eliminate the entire gang and put an end to all the crimes they are connected with. This would be the best outcome for everyone.
A less appealing option would be for the couple to run away and go underground, and hope they aren't found. Working in sweatshops for almost nothing is terrible... but if it keeps them alive and together, it might be better than where they came from. The bad boss man would certainly try to find them, but he wouldn't expend more money than they cost him originally, so hopefully he wouldn't look for too long.
It's hard to know the best way to counsel someone in a situation like this, but at least you lent him a sympathetic ear.
2007-03-01 05:13:22 · answer #1 · answered by teresathegreat 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would have tried to help him find a way to anonymously report this to the deportation authorities and to have somebody who knows the system honestly assess their chances for deportation. In the United States, local police often use the "threat" of deportation to get a witness to talk to them and it doesn't always lead to deportation. They have committed no crimes, but I understand their fear. I would find a way to anonymously get an opinion on this as to the likelihood of deportation in these circumstances. I wouldn't automatically assume it would happen.
Also, they may have an option if what they face in China is worse than this, that perhaps they could seek asylum as political refugees. Again, somebody knowing the system there would know this better than me.
If it isn't rape, it is certainly blackmail and that is a crime also.
2007-03-01 13:07:51 · answer #2 · answered by lmnop 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's too late now. Just hope he didn't do any thing silly.
I don't know the law but I would imagine he could have been allowed to apply for a work permit.
The police take firm action on this sort of thing particularly the employer forcing the wife to have sex.
That is illegal and IS rape regardless
2007-03-01 13:12:19 · answer #3 · answered by Murray H 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would invite the guy over for a fine meal, and have a six foot deep hole already dug in the back yard waiting for him after the meal.for real. i really would. if someone did that to MY wife.and I feel that God would forgive me.but as for him paying for my wife and I's freedom.well. that was OK..Y'all don't something like that were I am from.without retribution.
people from India do that all the time, they buy a motel and pay for someone to come over to run it for practically nothing in pay.But thats peoples right to do what they want to,
in what was to be South Carolina.my people on one side came over as indentured servents before the revolutionary war .they were paid nothing for 15 years of service till they could do what they wanted to with their lifes.
2007-03-01 13:09:31 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
When things seem hopeless, they aren't. When there appears there are no other options, there always are more options. There's always help available, if you seek it with the right attitude and in the right places. Think positive, and brain storm answers with other people who also think positive!!!
2007-03-01 18:20:08 · answer #5 · answered by delmaanna67 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's a hard situation to be in, I would have suggested that he talk to the police, or go back to the country he came from at least he wasnt a slave there. :-( How sad
2007-03-01 13:09:35 · answer #6 · answered by mudd_grip 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think u did the best thing and not got involved. u would feel even worse if u had given him bad advice and then found out something nasty had happened to him x x
2007-03-01 13:07:10 · answer #7 · answered by bonbon24 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
you should have given him and his wife a pair of fake glasses with a nose and fake mustache so they could hide their identity and not get caught
2007-03-02 12:12:35 · answer #8 · answered by peachesandcream 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
he had a very low wage but still could afford to drink in a bar at those prices??????????????
something not right about that sob story!!
2007-03-01 13:40:16 · answer #9 · answered by starcadet2000 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Im sure he's OK....and indentured servitude is illegal.
2007-03-01 13:07:22 · answer #10 · answered by Diamond in the Rough 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋