"But ever since I came here he destroyed my life." In January 2015, after seeing the ad on the "Melbourne under the Melbourne Sky" Facebook page, the man went to Candoo Confectionery in Box Hill. Candoo Confectionery in Box Hill. The shop sold Persian baked goods and was popular during Ramadan and Nowruz, Iranian New Year. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, later took a call from Seyyed Ali Farshchi, a GP and the owner of the shop, offering him a job.

Dr Farshchi, 46, and his wife, Naghmeh Mostafaei, 45, are this week facing a committal hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court over charges of forced labour. The couple, who deny the allegations, have not yet entered a plea. According to a statement tendered in court, in the asylum seeker's first week, Dr Farshchi said: "I'm told that you're a good worker ... keep up the good work and I look after you." So for more than three months, the man allegedly worked seven days a week, up to 14 hours a day, without pay. Naghmeh Mostafaei outside court on Monday. Credit:Luis Ascui He was allegedly told it was part of his training and that he should be paying the business for the valuable skills he was acquiring.

"They told me you need to learn how to work with the dough and make things," he later told police. "I thought ... that's the way it works in Australia." From 7.30am until 9pm, and sometimes until 4am during celebration periods, the man worked cleaning, doing general labour, baking and making faloudeh, a Persian ice cream, it is claimed. He did not take breaks for lunch or dinner after he was told Australians didn't work that way. "The first year I worked there, I only had one day off," he told the AFP.

When he was eventually paid, the rate was $10 an hour, it is alleged. His wages are said to have come in cash, to have arrived irregularly and to have often not matched the hours worked. As well as working in the shop, the man had been asked to work at Dr Farshchi's house washing his car, doing his gardening and mowing the lawn. The asylum seeker's wife had been asked to cook, do dishes and wash clothes, allegedly on promises of help with their visa and a house. When his workers complained of injury, Dr Farshchi allegedly gave them the powerful painkillers tramadol and suboxone. "We might throw up because of the pressure of the work," the man told police. After the asylum seeker was told that $10 was below minimum wage, he complained to Dr Farshchi, who allegedly threatened to tell immigration authorities he was working illegally.

The man had converted to Christianity while in a detention centre on Christmas Island and he claims Dr Farshchi used this against him. "They're looking for an excuse to send you back," Dr Farshchi told him, according to the man's statement. "And when they deport you back to Iran I'm gonna let them know that you're a Christian convert ... their sentence over there is, for apostasy is death, so they're going to kill you over there." When the man again said he no longer wanted to work for Dr Farshchi, he was allegedly told he would have a bag put over his head and be thrown into the ocean. He was also allegedly told he would be dissolved in acid and put in a septic tank. The man said the stress had badly affected his family. His wife had a miscarriage and his daughter had been ill. "Truth be told, I'm really scared of him," he told police.