Natasha and her partner, James who worked as an immigration officer but later took up a management position with the Foreign Office in Lagos have a three year old son and were living in Lagos as at 2011. However, Natasha had obtained a transfer back to the UK to take up a post in the UKBA’s Criminal and Financial Investigations Unit, based in Croydon and planned to take her son with her.
The prosecutor, Riel Karmy-Jones told the jury at the Inner London Crown Court that she was considering the cost of childcare in the UK. “She planned to take her young son with her. No doubt on her mind was childcare, and specifically the cost of childcare in London was something that she and James Mooney had to consider,” Daily Mail reported.
They therefore hit upon a plan that their Nigerian nanny and maid, Rose, would be the ideal candidate to continue to look after their son when Natasha worked in London. Natasha was then said to have filled out a visa application form on their maid’s behalf.
They are alleged to have faked Rose’s documents claiming she had worked for them for a year in Nigeria so they could bring her to their home in Coulsdon, South London, where she would have worked 11 hours a day, five days a week, looking after their three year-old son for just £300 a month. But in actual fact, Rose had only worked for them for six months.
The maid was actually granted the vias for 11 months. However, James was said to have asked for it to be reissued for the full year requested. It was at this point that it attracted the attention of issuing officer Lindsey Moore, who knew the couple and recalled visiting their flat in the autumn of 2010 before a night out. Further investigations revealed that the couple’s previous maid named Georgina was sacked a few months before Christmas 2010 after being accused of stealing around £4. Meanwhile, the couple claimed Rose had worked for them since May 2010 when she actually started working for them in November 2010.
The prosecutor described their action as greedy. “The motive is one of greed. Had they succeeded, had Rose come to the UK for a period of a year, she would have worked for what can only be described as a pittance.”
“Their role in this offence is all the more culpable and serious because of what they do, for Natasha Vukic and James Mooney have both considered and approved and refused the applications made by others. They have, in effect, stood in judgement over others for the very same offence they have now committed.”
Isn’t it interesting that it’s not only Nigerians who try to take their domestic help to foreign countries to continue working for them for paltry salaries?
Photo Credit: Daily Mail UK
No comments:
Post a Comment