Homeless Bulgarian treated like a slave on Burmarrad chicken farm

A homeless Bulgarian scientist was treated as a slave and made to work for a pittance in appalling conditions at a chicken farm, a court heard yesterday as he was charged with stealing some bedclothes.

The shocking allegations were made by the man’s legal aid lawyer Cedric Mifsud, who told Police Inspector Joseph Busuttil that he should be investigating this abuse rather than his client, who had taken what was rightfully his.

Yakubov Selvi Haka, 60, who until yesterday was living in an abandoned factory, is pleading not guilty to stealing a mattress, four bed sheets, two blankets, a pair of boots and an apron worth €120 from the farm.

Police Inspector told the court that the police had received a phone call from someone at the chicken farm on Burmarrad Road in St Paul’s Bay claiming that an employee had been caught red-handed stealing items.

Magistrate Anthony Vella asked the inspector if the alleged victims were in court. The inspector replied in the negative, prompting Dr Mifsud to say that it was not in their interest to turn up, given the circumstances.

The lawyer said Mr Haka, a qualified scientist, had been treated as a slave, made to work for just €3.50 an hour, 17 hours a day, seven days a week.

His bosses gave him a room to sleep in with a mattress and four blankets but, fed up with his working conditions, he demanded that he be paid so that he could leave, the lawyer said.

He demanded the €200 he was owed only to be given €120. He moved out into an abandoned factory nearby and, when he returned to retrieve his belongings from the room at the farm, his employers, out of spite, called the police, the lawyer alleged.

In requesting bail, he said that the Bulgarian consul had come forward and provided his client with an apartment. Since he now had a fixed address he could be granted bail.

Magistrate Anthony Vella granted him bail against a personal guarantee of €500.