[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ester-16974149

9 February 2012

A 10-year-old deaf girl was trafficked into the UK and kept in a cellar as a virtual slave for almost a decade, a court in Manchester has heard.

The orphaned youngster from Pakistan was forced to work for no pay and was sexually assaulted, a trial at Minshull Street Crown Court was told.

She was locked in a cellar each night.

Ilyas Ashar, 83, and his wife, Tallat Ashar, 66, deny charges of false imprisonment, human trafficking, sexual offences, violence and benefit fraud.

The girl, now aged between 19 and 21, would sleep on a concrete floor in the cellar of the couple's house in Cromwell Road, Eccles, Greater Manchester, after she was brought to Britain in June 2000, prosecutor Peter Cadwallader told the jury.

She was never paid and only given food and lodging, Mr Cadwallader told the jury.

The girl was made to cook, clean, do washing and ironing and clean the houses and cars of family and friends of the Ashar's, the court heard.

She would be kept in the cellar to work for hours packing football shirts and clothes and mobile phone covers, the jury was told.

The "extremely vulnerable" girl was "the ideal target" for exploitation, Mr Cadwallader said.

He told the court: "The Crown's case is she was physically abused. She was sexually abused, which included being raped by Ilyas Ashar.

"She was exploited economically in that benefits, state benefits in this country, were obtained in her name, the money being kept by the Ashars.

"At night the door at the top of the stairs down to the cellar was locked and bolted so she could not get out during the night.

"There were no washing or toilet facilities in the cellar so that if she needed to use the bathroom during the night she had to bang on the cellar door in the hope that she was heard and the door opened."

The girl could not read or write, had no family or friends in the UK, and had never been to school in Pakistan or Britain, the jury was told.

Ilyas and Tallat Ashar both deny two counts of human trafficking into the UK for exploitation and a single count of false imprisonment.

Ilyas also denies 12 counts of rape, Tallat denies one count of sexual assault and unlawful wounding, and the pair along with their daughter Faaiza, 44, deny charges of benefit fraud.

Eccles 'slave case' girl: Ilyas Ashar says girl was 'happy'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ester-18555028

22 June 2012

A man accused of keeping a girl as a slave in a cellar for years has told a court she was "happy" to work for him.

Ilyas Ashar, 83, said the alleged victim, an orphan from Pakistan, had not been forced to work at his home In Cromwell Road in Eccles, Salford.

He also said the accusation he raped her was untrue as he was physically incapable of it.

Mr Ashar and his wife Tallat, 66, deny charges of false imprisonment, human trafficking and sexual offences.

The pair, who are on trial at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court. also deny charges of benefit fraud.

The trial has previously heard claims the girl was beaten regularly, repeatedly raped by Mr Ashar and kept a virtual prisoner to work for the family.

The girl never went to school and was taught only to sign her name for the purposes of a benefits fraud, the court was told.

Prosecutor Peter Cadwallader said to Mr Ashar that he had wanted the girl, who was 10 when she arrived in the UK in June 2000, "as a domestic servant and for your own sexual pleasure".

He added that he had "exploited her by forcing her to work" and "made her work for you and your wife".

Mr Ashar said it was "not true" that he had raped the girl, as he was "unable to do it".

He added that he and his wife had "never made her work".

"She's happy to do the work, to help. We treated her like a family member, or daughters," he said.

He went on to say that he had "never, never" locked the girl in the cellar and he had "absolutely not" sexually abused her.

Asked by Mr Cadwallader about the girl's earlier testimony, Mr Ashar said it was "absolutely she that's lying".

Totally medieval .....