Millionairess gets 11 years for abuse of domestic staff she held in 'modern-day slavery' in New York mansion

Varsha Sabhnani, 46,  was convicted on 12 charges after her victims testified they were beaten with brooms and umbrellas, slashed with knives, and forced to climb stairs and take freezing showers as punishment.

One victim was forced to eat dozens of chili peppers against her will, and then was forced to eat her own vomit when she could not keep the peppers down, prosecutors said.

Abuse: Varsha Sabhani has been jailed for 11 years for treating her domestic staff as 'less than human'

Sabhani was also fined $25,000 (£12,500).

Her  husband Mahender Sabhnani, 51, wept as he watched his wife's punishment pronounced. 

He was charged with the same crimes because although his wife carried out the actual abuse,  he allowed the conduct to take place and benefited from the work the women performed in his home, prosecutors said.

He is to be sentenced tonight, but is expected to receive a much shorter prison term.

Sabhani's husband Mahender wept as his wife was sentenced. He is due to be sentenced later today

The couple ran a lucrative international perfume business out of an office in their Long Island home, which is valued at £1million.

U.S. District Judge Arthur Spatt called the testimony "eye-opening, to say the least - that things like that go on in our country."

"In her arrogance, she treated her staff  as less than people," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Demetri Jones.

"I just want to say that I love my children very much," Indonesian-born Sabhnani  told the court as two of her grown children looked on.

"I was brought to this Earth to help people who are in need."

Both women victims were brought from Indonesia to the couple's home, one in 2002 and the other in 2005. Their passports and other travel documents were immediately confiscated by the Sabhnanis, the women testified.  They said neither of them were paid, but  relatives in Indonesia were paid about $100 (£50) a month for each.

Prosecutors contended the accusations amounted to a "modern-day slavery" case. They said the maids were subjected to "punishment that escalated into a cruel form of torture," which ended in May 2007, when one of the women fled. She wandered into a doughnut shop wearing nothing but rags, and employees called police.

"This did not happen in the 1800s," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko said during the trial. "This happened in the 21st century. This happened in New York."

The women said they were tortured and beaten for sleeping late or stealing food from trash bins because they were poorly fed. Both women also said they were forced to sleep on mats in the kitchen.

The case was so shocking it drew protesters outside court yesterday

Spatt postponed a decision on the amount of back wages owed to the women. Prosecutors suggested the women were due more than $1.1 million (£550,000, while defence attorneys said the figure should be much lower.

The defence, which intends to appeal, contended the two women concocted the story as a way of escaping the house for more lucrative opportunities. They also argued the housekeepers practiced witchcraft and may have abused themselves as part of a self-mutilation ritual.

Defence attorney Jeffrey Hoffman said 175 letters were submitted to the court detailing Sabhnani's charitable acts around the world. He called her "a woman who spent a lifetime doing good deeds".