Harrowing new details emerge about Victorian farmer accused of beating and intimidating his family into becoming his slaves

A Victorian father accused of enslaving his family on a regional estate is said to have told this to one child; “I could kill you at any moment,” when she complained about being late for school.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, returned to the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday as prosecutors continued to build their case.

He has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including seven charges of committing and remaining in servitude to another person and three charges of causing injury with intent.

Prosecutors alleged that the man used violence, threats and intimidation to force his wife and children to perform agricultural and domestic duties over a period of approximately five years.

In his opening address to the jury, Patrick Doyle SC said the prosecution’s case was that the family was “living under tyranny” on the working farm in regional Victoria.

Mr Doyle said it was alleged the man had conditioned his family to fear and obey him before they left the highway, but the isolated farm led to worse threats, violence, manipulation and belittling.

While he worked on the farm, the family was reportedly locked out and denied access to food, clean drinking water and bathrooms until he decided they were done.

The man is accused of treating his loved ones like slaves as he harvested produce, dug irrigation canals, cared for animals and built fences among other tasks such as filing taxes and cleaning the house.

The family would have been beaten with objects found around the farm, such as irrigation hoses, if they ever refused or complained, Mr Doyle told the jury.

The Supreme Court of Victoria heard the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, forced them to work in extreme conditions for a period of about five years

He said a child would report being in the man’s ATV as he hit wild dogs that had entered the property.

‘That’s what happens to people who disobey me. That’s what happens if you don’t do what I tell you,” the man allegedly said.

Mr Doyle said another child would testify that the man picked up a gun and said; “I could kill you at any moment,” when she complained about being late for school.

He told the jury that the man was allegedly heard bragging to a neighbor that he didn’t have to work “because he had a family that did it for him.”

The prosecutor said the man’s children had “an unusual amount of absences” from school, which the Crown said was because they were forced to work.

Mr Doyle said it was alleged the man banned social relationships outside the family, limited their ability to leave the premises and would arbitrarily introduce restrictions – such as restricting food or access to hygiene products.

“The basic case is that if the family did work, they didn’t have the freedom not to,” he said.

“They were not free to refuse these duties without being subjected to violence.”

Mr Doyle asked the jury to put themselves in the shoes of the alleged victims and ask questions; “Would you consider yourself free to stop working or leave the farm?”

“To be so completely dependent on the whims of one person… that’s not freedom,” he said.

Mr Doyle told the jury they would hear from every family member, neighbors and teachers at the school during the course of the trial.

The man has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including seven charges of entering into and remaining in servitude to another person and three charges of intentionally causing injury.

In response, defense attorney Alexander Patton told the jury that his client had been portrayed as a “monster” by his ex-wife and children and said the central question of the case was whether the jury could believe their accusations.

He told the jury it was not disputed that his client’s family had helped on the farm by doing odd jobs, but denied the farmer had ever used violence, threats or intimidation.

“Are they forced into labor or do they do what generations of families have done before and join in,” he said.

“This is not a case where (the man) sent his family to work in a business that made him rich… this was a family helping out on a farm.

“This is a man accused of serious crimes that he simply did not commit.”

Mr Patton said his client denied controlling his family’s freedom, and questioned why his children would have been allowed to volunteer or receive support in their university goals if this was the case.

He urged the jury to keep an open mind until they heard all the evidence and to give the man the same benefit of the doubt they would want if a loved one was wrongly accused.

The process continues.