Woman allegedly kept as slave by Point Cook Melbourne couple diagnosed with terminal illness

The complainant in an alleged Melbourne slavery case has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, a court has been told, as prosecutors confirmed they will seek to send the matter to the Supreme Court.

Point Cook couple Chee Kit Chong, 44, and Angie Yeh Liaw, 29, have each been charged by the Australian Federal Police with multiple modern slavery offences, after allegedly keeping a female in domestic servitude between January and October 2022.

On Monday, prosecutor Michael Keks told the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court that the complainant, who he said was a ‘crucial witness,’ had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and foreshadowed that the Crown would seek to send the matter directly to the Supreme Court and skip the committal hearing process.

‘This needs to be addressed,’ Mr Keks said.

He told the court the defendants had engaged several solicitors, but multiple firms had withdrawn because of a lack of funding.

Mr Keks said there had been a ‘lack of progress’ generally in the case, and said the court could have ‘no confidence’ funding would be forthcoming from the accused pair.

The AFP had previously stated that they began an investigation into the couple after reports from a healthcare partner concerned about a woman who allegedly showed signs of human trafficking.

They said they executed search warrants at the pair’s Point Cook home on October 27 last year, and charged Mr Chong on November 17 with possessing a slave and using coercion and threats to cause another person to remain in servitude.

He was later charged with exercising control over a slave, and on April 4 this year, Ms Liaw was charged with the same three offences.

The maximum penalty each face is 25 years in prison.

Melbourne couple Angie Liaw and Chee Kit Chong have both been charged with three slavery-related offences, and face having their matters heard in the Supreme Court. Photo: Facebook.

Defence lawyer Payne Wu, who is representing both Mr Chong and Ms Liaw, said council needed time to go inspect the prosecution brief.

Magistrate Belinda Franjic told Mr Chong, who appeared in court in person, and Ms Liaw, who appeared via video, that if there remained funding issues when the matter returned next month she would ‘seriously entertain’ sending it directly to a superior court.

‘You need to attend to paying your lawyers as soon as possible,’ Magistrate Franjic said.

The matter will return to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on July 14.

Both Mr Chong and Ms Liaw had their bail extended to that date.