London: A deaf and mute girl allegedly kept in a cellar, repeatedly raped and treated as a virtual slave told a court today of years of beatings and cruelty.
The victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the jury of almost a decade of alleged abuse after being trafficked into the UK from Pakistan in 2000, supposedly to work as a domestic help.
According to Daily Mail The orphaned youngster, who does not know her true age but is believed to be between 19 and 21, was slapped, beaten, sexually abused and hit with a rolling pin while forced to work for no money during the day, the court heard.
‘Slave’: The deaf and mute girl (centre) gave evidence to the court via a videolink. She spoke in sign language with the aid of a deaf and dumb intermediary and a sign language interpreter
Ilyas and Tallat Ahsar deny charges of false imprisonment, human trafficking, sexual offences, violence and benefit fraud
At night the victim was made to sleep on the concrete floor of a cellar, the door bolted, Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard.
Her alleged abusers were Ilyas Ashar, 83, and his wife, Tallat Ashar, 66, who deny charges of false imprisonment, human trafficking, sexual offences, violence and benefit fraud.
Today the girl told of her treatment while at their home on Cromwell Road in Eccles, Salford, Greater Manchester.
Giving evidence from a separate room via videolink, she was assisted by a deaf and dumb intermediary and a sign language interpreter.
The girl was also interviewed by police 14 times with the aid of specially-trained interpreters and the recordings are being played to the jury over the next few days.
The witness will then be cross-examined by lawyers defending the three accused. Before the first video started, the alleged victim said she wanted assurance that she would be kept asked about her life, in her words via an interpreter and sign language, she told the jury: ‘I was sad and weak because I was working so hard.
‘They used to hit me from being very very little, all the time.
‘I used to cook and clean for hours and hours.
‘She (Tallat Ashar) used to hit me with her ring, she used to hit me in the face and cut my face with her ring. It hurt. She would scratch me.
‘I would be down in the cellar, sitting alone and very upset.
‘I would sit there for a long, long time, really upset and crying. I could not get out.’
The girl, being deaf, would put cups and crockery down on tables but Tallat Ashar would complain she put them down too hard and made too much noise – and so would slap her, she said.
At 7am in the mornings while the girl was drinking and eating, Tallat would allegedly come to the cellar, clicking her fingers and demanding she stop and get on with her jobs.
Shaking her head and wringing her hands together on her lap, the girl added: ‘The woman and that man would do that to me. They are bad.’
The alleged offences took place in Cromwell Road in Eccles, Greater Manchester
Shown a photo of Tallat Ashar, to identify her alleged abuser, the girl said: ‘That’s the woman who used to hit me and beat me all the time as I was growing up.
‘All through my life she’s been hitting me.’
She was also shown a photo of Ilyas Ashar, who allegedly repeatedly raped the girl.
‘The old man, he’s bad,’ she replied, ‘He’s the one who has sex with me.’
The victim’s true age is not known but it is thought she was aged between 10 and 12 when she came to the UK.
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