A 51-YEAR-OLD Nicosia man was yesterday fined €1,200 for illegally employing a third country national to work on his house.
The Pakistani worker, who had been in custody since May 15, was allowed to walk free after the judge ruled any further punishment would be disproportionate to the offence.
The incident occurred on May 17 last year. Both the employer and Pakistani asylum seeker pleaded guilty at the time of their arrest.
The judge said the seriousness of the offence was apparent from the penalty it carried. A guilty sentence can result in up to three years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to €8,500.
“This offence is also on the increase. A lot of Supreme Court decisions have noted this fact and I can confirm it from my own experience,” he said.
He said the frequency similar crimes were being committed had escalated which forced the courts to impose harsher penalties as a deterrent measure. The implication he made was that the 51-year-old had been lucky to escape without a prison sentence.
“In an effort to contain the problem stricter penalties are used as a restrictive method. Normally prison sentences are imposed,” he said.
However, working in the employer’s favour was the fact that he had pleaded guilty, had a clean record and was a family man of good character.
According to the defence the 51-year-old had not profited from employing the Pakistani worker. This was because although building works were being carried out on his property, he had contracted the work out to other builders and simply given the younger man a job.
“There was no labour exploitation. Instead there appears to be ignorance regarding the illegality of the act and also he was moved by feelings of humanity or altruism to help the defendant who seemed, both from his words and appearance, to need help,” the judge said.
Nevertheless offering the Pakistani man a job had failed to benefit him as they had both wound up in court, he pointed out.
“He could have gone through the necessary legal procedures or other measures that would truly have helped,” he said.
Acting in the employee’s favour was the fact that at the time he had been hired he had not been in Cyprus illegally.
“At the time he had not been informed that his political asylum application had been rejected… He was already in custody for over 15 days and any further sentence would be disproportionately harsh, so there will be no further sentence,” he said.
