The former wife of a Victorian man convicted of trafficking her overseas and abandoning her in Sudan says she lives in “constant fear”, describing being stranded without her children as the “most devastating experience of my life”.
The man, 52, in April became the first Victorian convicted of exit trafficking – where someone is coerced, threatened or tricked into leaving Australia against their will. A Victorian county court jury found him guilty of the federal offence after a month-long trial.
The man pleaded not guilty to the charge and denied having deceived the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
He appeared in person in county court in Melbourne on Tuesday for a plea hearing, wearing a light blue shirt and brown pants. He faces a maximum penalty of 12 years in prison.
A victim impact statement from his former wife, read to the court on behalf of the prosecution, said she was left in a state of “utter despair” when she was stranded in Sudan. The court heard the eldest of the couple’s two children was two years old while the youngest was just six months old when the man took them back to Australia without their mother’s consent.
“The pain of that moment has burrowed deep inside me. A pain that lingers to this day,” the statement said.
She said the separation caused “immense physical pain and emotional agony” and said the journey to reunite with her children was “an agonising struggle”.
The court heard that, when she reunited with her children, her former partner made false accusations against her, which meant she was unable to see her children for a period of time.
The man’s former wife said her children had endured “unimaginable suffering” after they were removed without her consent. She said one of her children experiences severe separation anxiety and fears her mother will never return when she leaves.
“My children have endured more than any child should ever have to,” she said.
“I live in constant fear moving from place to place, afraid he will attack me or kidnap my children.”
The woman now has full custody of their two children.
The man’s defence barrister, Brett Stevens, told Judge Frank Gucciardo that the two children were not victims of the offence.
He argued at the time of the offence the children did not have separation anxiety and said other circumstances such as family court proceedings that may have contributed to the impact on them were not derived from the offence.
Prosecutor John Saunders said the mental health issues of the children was a matter that had an affect on the woman’s life as their primary caregiver and were derived from the offence.
Stevens told the court the man had not left his then-wife in a country that was foreign to her. But Gucciardo said it was “not some resort in the Maldvies” and said that Sudan was “by today’s standards a very difficult place even if you have family there”.
Stevens added that the man had no prior convictions and was a “loving and attentive father”, which he said testimony from maternal and child health nurses supported.
The court previously heard that after an arranged marriage in Sudan in 2010, the woman moved to Australia on a partner visa in 2012 and was sponsored by her husband. She had their first child in 2012 and the second two years later.
The family visited Sudan on 15 September 2014 and the woman was told it was for a holiday, the court heard previously. The prosecution alleged the man intentionally led his wife to believe she had a valid visa to return to Australia, but had withdrawn his sponsorship for her visa in June.
She was separated from her children for 16 months, the court previously heard.
The Australian federal police charged the man in 2022.
He is due to be sentenced at a later date.