The Story Behind "Modern-Day Slavery"

The maid, wearing rags on her back, had been tortured for more than five years when she wandered into a Dunkin' Donuts on Mother's Day morning. Wounds oozed from her ears; her body was covered with scars.

Her story of painful, degrading abuse was corroborated by a co-worker found later that day, cowering in a small closet under the basement stairs of an elegant Long Island mansion. Both women received medical treatment.

It was the woman who inflicted the abuse on the maids who ended up in the hospital Monday. After guilty verdicts against her and her husband were read, Varsha Sabhnani fainted and collapsed to the courtroom floor.

She and her husband, Mahender Sabhnani, were convicted in what federal prosecutors called a case of "modern-day slavery." The millionaire perfume moguls lived extravagantly but gave the maids inadequate food, wretched living conditions and no money aside from the pittance sent to their families in Indonesia. They were accused of making their lives hell in part by turning household items like peppers, tape and umbrellas into tools of torment.

"This did not happen in the 1800s," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko said in closing arguments. "This happened in the 21st century. This happened in Muttontown, New York."

The Sabhnanis could each face as much as 40 years in prison, although attorneys predicted the punishment would be considerably less. They were convicted of counts including forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude and harboring aliens.

The maids, who testified through an interpreter, said they were beaten with brooms and umbrellas, slashed with knives, forced to climb stairs and take freezing cold showers as punishment for various misdeeds. Samirah was forced to eat dozens of chili peppers against her will, and then was forced to eat her own vomit when she couldn't keep the peppers down, she said.

She added that she would be starved at times and forced to take food from the trash. "I got up at 4 a.m. to scrub and cook for the Missus. I only ate at noon, two slices of bread," she said. And she maintained that she was scalded with boiling water -- if she complained -- until "the skin was cooked," reported CBS News station WCBS-TV.

The defense, which promised an appeal, contended the women made up the story as a way of escaping the house for more lucrative opportunities. They also argued the housekeepers practiced witchcraft and may have abused themselves as part of an Indonesian self-mutilation ritual.

The verdict was a shock to the defendants' family; Varsha Sabhnani's daughter also fainted and was taken to the hospital after hearing it. Both women were released from the hospital emergency room later Monday.

Defense attorney Stephen Scaring said another of the Sabhnani's daughters, Tina, was in disbelief at the verdict and quoted her as saying, "We never did anything to anybody, how could this happen to us in America?"

Prosecutors declined to comment until court proceedings were completed. After the fainting episode, U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Spatt postponed the court proceeding until Tuesday.

The trial provided a glimpse into the growing problem in the United States of domestic workers being exploited as modern-day slaves. Experts hoped that the verdict will have a lasting legacy.

"This certainly does send a message that people can't do this," said Nancy Foner, a sociology professor at Hunter College in New York City. "This is a lesson; I hope this verdict will make people frightened."

In his closing argument, Lesko said the poorly educated women barely eked out a living in Indonesia and came to the U.S. to work as housekeepers for $100 or $150 a month - all of which was sent to their relatives back home.

Samirah, the woman found at the doughnut shop after escaping, arrived in the Sabhnanis' Muttontown home in 2002; the other woman, named Enung, arrived in 2005. Their passports and other travel documents were immediately confiscated by the Sabhnanis, the women testified.

Enung testified that Samirah's nude body once was covered in plastic wrapping tape on orders from Varsha Sabhnani, who then instructed Enung to rip it off.

The women have been cared for during the investigation by Catholic Charities, and it unclear where they would go after the trial.

The Sabhnanis spent nearly three months in jail following their arrest before a judge signed off on a bail package that required the couple to post $4.5 million and pay an estimated $10,000 a day for round-the-clock security monitoring while they were kept under house arrest. Prosecutors had argued the Sabhnanis - he is from India, and she is from Indonesia, but both are naturalized U.S. citizens - were a flight risk. It was possible Spatt would revoke bail on Tuesday.

Although Varsha Sabhnani, 45, was identified as the primary culprit in inflicting punishment, Lesko said her 51-year-old husband was charged with the same crimes because he allowed the conduct to take place and benefited from the work the women performed in his home.

He also noted that the Sabhnanis' international perfume business is run out of an office adjacent to the home, where Mahender should have been privy to the discipline being imposed by his wife.

"Ask yourself who is worse," Lesko said. "The twisted soul who tortures maids or the man of the house who lets it happen?"