<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A couple only allowed their alleged slave to eat Weet-Bix as she cleaned their home and looked after their children, without compensation and under threat of violence, a </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/courts" rel="" target="" title="jury"><span>jury</span></a><span> has heard.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The 61-year-old woman was denied freedom, </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/health" rel="" target="" title="medical"><span>medical</span></a><span> help and performed unpaid domestic work, including massaging the man's feet, while sleeping on stairs or in a garage, prosecutors allege.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The victim, who cannot be legally identified, died in 2024. However, her evidence to </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/police" rel="" target="" title="police"><span>police</span></a><span>, friends and family will be shown to the jury of 14.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/pete-hegseth-suspicious-trades-blackrock-defence-stocks-pentagon-secretary-of-war-denial/31095d1a-7d6e-479b-96f8-e087a3a92de8"><strong><span>Stunning claim regarding move by Trump's Secretary of War rejected</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Accused slave-keeper Chee Kit "Max" Chong, and his wife Angie Liaw, sat in the back of Victoria's County Court in Melbourne as prosecutors opened their case against the couple on Tuesday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Chong is charged with intentionally possessing a slave between January and October 2022, and three counts of assault, while Liaw is charged with assisting Chong to keep the woman as a slave.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Both have pleaded not guilty and deny all of the alleged offending.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/accused-couple-only-let-slave-eat-weetbix-jury-told/e60e001c-4f33-404e-9d07-83f417d42051" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Prosecutor Shaun Ginsbourg SC said Chong met the woman at church in Malaysia in 2015, and their relationship was like mother and son.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The crown prosecutor alleged Chong tried to get money out of the woman on a number of occasions, including $30,000 just before she moved to Australia with them, which she asked a woman from her church for.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After moving to Australia in 2017, the victim lived with the couple initially, before Ginsbourg said they left to Malaysia without telling her and she became homeless.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The woman allegedly moved back in with the couple in January 2022, to help Liaw with their newborn baby, which is when the prosecutor said the slavery began.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/succulent-chinese-meal-meme-enters-national-film-and-sound-archive/c3add7d4-66e8-4ab7-b54f-4ad218c07a02"><strong><span>'Succulent Chinese meal' arrest clip receives its due recognition</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>By this point, she had multiple vulnerabilities as she was homeless, on a tourist visa with no independent income and isolated from her family in Malaysia, he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Chong described her to other people as his 'maid or helper'," Ginsbourg said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Mr Chong threatened and coerced (the victim) to provide domestic services, repeatedly told her she had to work to repay supposed debts.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"When (the victim) failed at her duties, or failed to complete them to Chong's satisfaction, he would often hit or kick her, or punish her by telling her she could not sleep or eat that day."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Ginsbourg alleged Chong kicked the woman in the head, hit her with a vacuum after she fell asleep while massaging his legs and knocked her head into a wall.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/alleged-arson-attack-at-western-sydney-tesla-dealership-destroys-three-cars/9d6cd954-80a6-44a7-83cd-20d2f87d73d0" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>Three Tesla cars destroyed in suspected arson attack</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Chong allegedly banned her from eating certain foods and "said she could only eat Weet-Bix", the prosecutor said as he read messages where the woman asked Chong for permission to use the kitchen facilities.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He said the woman was at times forced to sleep on the stairs or inside the garage, instead of a bedroom at their Point Cook home, in Melbourne's south-west.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She was not allowed to leave the home without Chong, including for medical help after his alleged assaults, the jury heard.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Chong's barrister Diana Price said her client never assaulted the woman, denied ever possessing a slave and asked jurors to question why the victim may have exaggerated her claims.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She said Chong denied restricting the woman's freedoms, including her access to food, how and when she slept, and whether she was able to leave the home.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Price asked the jury to look at whether the woman's contribution to the household was different from what you might expect for a family of three adults and two small children.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Ginsbourg accused Liaw of benefiting from the woman's domestic services and asking Chong to give her instructions or tasks, helping Chong in controlling her.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Liaw's barrister Daniel Gurvich KC said she did not commit any crime as there was no evidence she did beyond a reasonable doubt, and the jury's true verdict will be a verdict of not guilty.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><strong><span>NEVER MISS A STORY: </span></strong></em><em><span>Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><em><strong><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via </span></strong></em><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" rel="" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>Apple</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span> and </span></strong></em><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" rel="" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>Google Play</span></strong></em></a><em></em></li><li><em><strong><span>Make 9News your preferred source on Google by </span></strong></em><a 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