Samoan nationals 'used as slaves'

The lawyer for the man facing 24 human trafficking and slavery charges, has urged the jury to keep an open mind about the case.

The Crown has argued that 65-year-old Joseph Matamata, also known as Viliamu Samu, lured 13 Samoan nationals to New Zealand with promises of lucrative horticultural work in Hawke's Bay, but on arrival treated them like slaves.

It says he withheld wages, locked them up in his home and issuing ed threats and physical abuse when chores weren't completed.

Mr Matamata's lawyer, Roger Philip, told the court his client never deceived any of the workers in Samoa, and never enslaved them in New Zealand.

"This is a trial really about an extended Samoan family and their relationships, and how the cultural context of service, assistance, obligation match in with these particular charges."

Matamata's trial will hear from dozens of witnesses from Samoa, Australia and around New Zealand, many through interpreters.

In his opening speech, Crown Prosecutor Clayton Walker said Matamata abused his respected position as a Samoan Matai, or chief, by promising the workers a better life in New Zealand.

"The reality was different to what was being promised ... they found they were being used like slaves," he told the court.

Matamata never intended to pay the workers and Immigration had "conservatively estimated" he kept more than $400,000 in wages they had earned, Walker said.

If the complainants asked where their money was, he told them they still owed him money for travel, visas, room and board, he said.

The complainants spoke no English, were often illiterate, had little contact with their families in Samoa, Walker said.

"They were instructed that when they were at home they were to remain at the property and not to leave without his permission.

"While at the property they were required to perform various tasks or chores. They were not to communicate with passers-by, or with other people they came across whether that be at work or church.

"They were rarely able to communicate with their families back in Samoa and when they were, it was in his presence," Walker said.

He said the complainants were recruited by Matamata in Samoa with the promise they would be able to earn "significant" money in New Zealand and that they trusted him because he had the chiefly status of a Matai.

"A Matai is someone with controlling authority. Someone who commands respect and obedience. It is a fundamental part of Samoan culture."