Farmer gets jail for keeping slave
A provincial High Court has increased a farmers sentence for keeping a worker under inhumane conditions for 30 years.The Styrian High Court in Graz ruled yesterday (Thurs) that Peter P., 63, must serve six months behind bars. The elderly farmer was given a suspended 18-month prison term by judges in Leoben last year. The new verdict is legally binding.Prosecutors said in April Max L. was permanently beaten and verbally abused. They also revealed that the mentally disabled man, 56, had to work 13 hours every day of the week without being paid appropriately.The defendant was also found guilty of forging documents to rake in an overall 200,000 Euros of social insurance payments meant for their employee.The case emerged shortly after a woman was freed from social workers after being kept on a remote farm in Deutschlandsberg, Styria, for 40 years.Martina M., 55, had to work for four decades on the estate after being handed over by her parents at the age of 15 when they found out about her learning difficulties. She still needs assistance getting along in a world she has not seen for four decades.”When she saw a car for the first time after that long time, she just walked straight out in front of it,” a psychologist said.Officials did not make clear whether the farmers who employed the woman will face charges.