Man 'forced to work without pay' for 13 years
A father and son forced a vulnerable man to work unpaid at their farm every day for 13 years, a court has heard.
Darell Simester, 44, had to work 15-hour-days living in squalid conditions at Cariad Farm at Peterstone near Newport, heard a jury.
His family struggled to recognise him when they tracked him down in a "horrific state" with a chest infection, a hernia and calloused feet.
The trial at Cardiff Crown Court is expected to last up to six weeks.
Daniel Doran, 67, and 42-year-old David Daniel Doran deny charges of requiring Mr Simester to perform forced or compulsory labour between 2010 and 2013.
The family of Mr Simester, from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, had not known of his whereabouts since 2000.
John Hipkin, prosecuting, said when Mr Simester was eventually tracked down by his worried family in 2013 he was found living in a caravan which had been described by a police officer as "left to rot" and "unfit for human habitation".
Mr Simester slept in a rat-infested shed for more than a decade with just his horse manure-stained clothing for bedding - before being moved to a squalid and cold caravan with a broken door, heard Cardiff Crown Court.
He was said to have washed himself in an animal's feeding trough, while the broken outdoor toilet he had to use would only flush with a bucket of water and a stick.
He also had to huddle so close to an electric heater for warmth that over the years the skin on his left leg had been scarred.
After police raided the farm, Mr Simester told officers he had tried to leave twice - once after a spade had been thrown at him - but he had been caught and taken back to the farm by David Doran.
He was allegedly told he would be killed and buried with the horses.
Mr Hipkin said: "Darrell Simester was a man of timid disposition who for 13 years was forced to work against his will and under menace.
He added: "Darrell Simester regarded the defendants as his bosses. He worked (virtually) every day for 13 years.
"His working day would start at 7am and and he would finish between 9pm and 10pm. He did not receive any pay at all.
"You (the jury) will have to decide whether Mr Simester remained at the farm as a volunteer because he preferred life there, or whether he was coerced to stay while under some form of threat."
(continued, 12 years a welshman....)
