"Witness testifies in unpaid wages trial of businessman,"

A witness has testified in the trial of a businessman who has been accused of forcing a woman to work without pay or days off and then firing her for ‘nagging too much.’

The expatriate defendant who ran a now-shut-down perfume store near Bab Al Bahrain had denied human trafficking charges at the High Criminal Court last week.

However, the 37-year-old Pakistani earlier admitted to not paying his female employee because the store had gone bankrupt and he could not afford the wages.

A defence witness, the manager at the defendant’s company, stood before judges yesterday to testify during the trial of his fellow national, who he described as a ‘friend.’...

“When she did not receive her wages, the victim lodged a labour complaint against the defendant, but he ended up being prosecuted in the criminal court,” the lawyer added. “This is simply a labour issue – he did not force the woman to work and should have never been accused of human trafficking,” he suggested.

The GDN earlier reported the alleged victim’s claims that the defendant kept deducting money from her promised salary. Court documents added that he eventually fired her, saying that she ‘nagged too much.’

The now-unemployed Pakistani woman also claimed that her former boss refused to return her passport even after she was fired...

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