'Felt trapped': In Sask. human trafficking trial, court hears woman forced into sex with employer

In a human trafficking trial Tuesday, a Bangladeshi woman says she was sexually assaulted nearly two years ago during her time working at a small-town Saskatchewan restaurant.

Mohammad Masum and Sohel Haider were arrested on June 29, 2023. Each was charged with one count of trafficking a person. Masum also faces three counts of sexual assault.

The trial began on Monday in Rosetown and continued with more testimony from the complainant Tuesday. Her name is protected under a publication ban.

The woman, who can't be named because of a publication ban, says right from her first day arriving in Tisdale in November of 2022 she was "scared" of Masum because of the conversations they would have in private.

Before working her first shift in Tisdale, she says Masum told her of his past in Bangladesh, where he told her he cut a man's hands who wronged him.

The morning after arriving in Tisdale, she told court went to work her first shift at a local restaurant, under an agreement that she would be paid $1,000 per month in cash.

Less than two weeks on the job, she testified she was sent to the cooler during her break when the restaurant was empty and Masum followed her shortly afterwards. She said Masum came from behind her, wrapped his arms around her and began kissing her neck and shoulders.

She was able to free herself and push Masum away after roughly 40 to 50 seconds and sat down at a table in the restaurant and began crying.

When asked why she didn't yell or complain, she told court "no one else was there."

She testified she didn't want to complain to Masum or tell her family back home because "they could not accept easily."

"I felt like I was in a trap," she told the court.

The following day, Masum attempted to cheer her up and asked to speak with her outside. She declined, but eventually agreed to going for a drive to talk. She says they drove around for five or six minutes as Masum told her "not to worry" about what happened the day before.

She said Masum stopped the vehicle outside of town limits. Masum moved to the backseat and asked the woman to sit next to her so they could talk. She agreed. After saying she "doesn't like this relationship," she attempted to get out of the back seat, but the doors were locked, and she began to cry.

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She told court that's when Masum grabbed her hands, wiped her tears away and began to remove her pants and forced himself on her. She said the encounter lasted a few minutes.

The woman told the court she didn't scream because no one else was around and she felt trapped, because Masum was in charge of her worker’s permit process that would allow her to stay in Canada. He also had copies of her passport and other documents, she said.

When the arrests were announced last July, police said the woman was staying in Canada on a visitors’ permit. She moved to Saskatchewan after answering a job posting to work at a restaurant.

After she was granted a working permit, RCMP said the woman was forced to work up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week at restaurants in Gull Lake, Elrose and Tisdale.

When the woman wasn’t working, police said she was forced to stay in an unfinished concrete basement that was dimly lit and heavily water damaged.

Police said the woman’s employers threatened to revoke her work permit or call the police if she did not comply with the schedule and restrictions to her freedoms.

While testifying Tuesday, she said her scheduled shifts while in Tisdale were for 10 hours, five days a week, but it was common to work before and after each shift, and she was often encouraged to accompany Masum for supply runs in Saskatoon on one of her weekly days off.

-With files from Rory MacLean and Drew Postey