Anne Sutherland (Montreal Gazette) - A Laval des Rapides couple who were the first people in Canada to be charged with human trafficking have fired back at the Crown, the Laval police and the RCMP with a $5-million civil lawsuit claiming damages for wrongful arrest and mental anguish.
In May 2007, Nichan Manoukian and Manoudshag Saryboyadjian were charged with trafficking in persons, receiving material benefits from it and withholding travel or identity documents with respect to their Ethiopian nanny.
The charges were subsequently dropped.
The couple and their four children filed the $5-million lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court on May 15.
The suit claims unfounded arrest, psychological damage, legal fees for both the criminal and civil case, loss of income, loss of reputation and loss of dignity, honour and integrity.
The couple had hired Ethiopian citizen Senait Tafesse Manaye in Lebanon, where she worked for them for eight years before they brought her to Montreal in 2004.
The initial charges claimed the woman was denied access to a telephone, not allowed to leave the house and threatened with deportation if she spoke to authorities.
Laval police, acting on a tip in January 2006 from another Ethiopian woman who had befriended Manaye, put the couple’s house under surveillance and passed the information on to the RCMP, who raided the dwelling on Jan. 25, 2006, and removed 29-year-old Manaye.
The arrest and charges were made public in a widely covered news conference in May 2007 and the charges were listed in both English and French on the RCMP website.
These were the first charges to be laid in Canada since human trafficking became a Criminal Code offence in November 2005.
From the start, neighbours in Laval and the couple denied they had mistreated the young woman, and claimed that someone had coached her to make up the enslavement story to gain refugee status.
In December 2007, a crown prosecutor dropped the criminal charges against the couple based on new facts in the case, including a voluntary polygraph test taken by Manoukian.
The couple demanded a public apology at that time but are now seeking financial compensation for themselves, their two sons and two daughters.
Neither the Laval police department nor the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would comment on a case, which is now in the hands of lawyers.
2 responses so far ↓
1 grmoro // Oct 9, 2008 at 15:41
Talk about utter incomptence and negligence on the part of law enforcement. How about taking the word of Toronto pathologist Dr. Smith the the yound girl was even sexually-abused. They need to stop fabricating evidence, own-up to their mistakes, and then charged themselves for their breach of duty. This is a wake-up call Mr. Stephen Harper!
2 Deepthroat // Oct 10, 2008 at 15:27
It is not the first time a person has turned out to be a bad witness. If in fact the allegations she levelled were false then she should be prosecuted. You cannot blame the authorities for doing their job.
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