A CHARITY boss threatened his staff with violence if they did not carry out the work he wanted, a jury has been told.
Nerijus Gudelevicius also put psychological pressure on workers and confiscated their passports so they could not leave, one of his former employees said.
The 34-year-old Lithuanian would also routinely tell staff 'If you don't go to work you're going to get it in the head', the court heard.
Gudelevicius, of Melrose Close, Westlea, denies two counts of people trafficking and four of requiring a person to perform forces of compulsory labour.
It is said he housed up to 12 people at a time in a two bed terrace and then sent them to work putting bags through people's doors to collect unwanted clothes.
Egidijus Paragalgauskas told the jury at Swindon Crown Court how he worked for Gudelevicius for a few days in February last year.
Since coming to the UK in 2011 he said he had worked delivering clothes bags for numerous charities, and they all promised 'mountains of gold' but never delivered.
The Lithuanian had been homeless in Bristol when he was offered work in Swindon with Gudelevicius, who said he could get £200 a week.
He said he was told he must hand over his passport and ID documents so a contract could be drawn up, but after it failed to arrive he asked for them back.
When they were not returned he went to the police because he said he wanted to quit as he didn't like the way he and colleagues were treated.
"I had decided to leave because during those days I saw what psychological pressure Nerijus was applying to those other workers," he said.
"Pressure such as if you didn't distribute the bags you don't get any money and you will never be able to prove that you did distribute those bags.
"They would always find reasons to say that you didn't and all these charity firms so to do the same sort of thing. People are afraid to do anything about it.
"The first thing is they don't know where to seek help and secondly they don't know what help there would be, if there would be any."
Barnaby Shaw, prosecuting, asked what effect not having his ID documents had.
He said: "It is like a kind of being held.
"You are tied to a place because you need to get your documents back. You can't leave until you get it back.
"It is impossible to get your card back. The first thing is you are tied to the place, you can't leave. You have no money.
"You effectively have to work there whether you like it or not and whether you get anything or not."
He said the psychological came in two ways "One is if I didn't get my passport and ID back and the other was Nerijus or someone on his behalf would beat me up.
"I saw that he applied this sort of pressure to others who were perhaps not physically able to supply all the bags or perhaps were a bit lazy and he has forced them to work in that way," he added.
Under cross examination from Sarah Wood, defending, he said: "I saw how he treated others. He behaved like a hooligan, throwing his weight around.
"He would say directly 'If you don't go to work you're going to get it in the head'. Sometimes twice in the evening he would say that."
She put to him that he had only given his passport as a deposit because his new boss was providing and it could have handed over anything of value, which he denied.
And she asked whether he was confused about being offered £200 a week suggesting that may have been a different job, but he again insisted what he said was right.
Gudelevicius denies all the charges and the trial continues.
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