A millionaire Salford couple kept a girl in their cellar as a slave for nine years. The BBC reports.
A deaf girl from Pakistan kept as a slave for nine years by a millionaire couple from Salford is to receive £100,000 in compensation.
Ilyas and Tallat Ashar were jailed last October after the girl was found in their cellar in 2009.
The victim was repeatedly raped and forced to work as a servant at the family’s properties as a child.
Manchester Crown Court ruled the couple must also repay £42,000 of benefits falsely claimed in her name.
Oh she was raped, too. That’s nice – that’s a nice touch.
She was ten when she was trafficked into the UK. Ten.
The victim had to learn a form of sign language to give evidence at the trial last year, when her progress was compared to “a butterfly coming out of a chrysalis”.
She is now living independently and has improved her sign language skills, said police.
And she has some back wages coming.
The court had to calculate the value of the work carried out by the girl when she was being exploited and also the sum of benefits claimed fraudulently in her name.
The judge based it on the minimum wage, assuming she worked for 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
Lawyers for the couple argued a deduction should be made for board and lodging accrued by the girl when she was with them.
ARE YOU JOKING??
Also, minimum wage, don’t forget. Around here cleaners get about $15 an hour, and they don’t throw in being raped or being held prisoner in a cellar.
Ch Supt Mary Doyle, from Greater Manchester Police (GMP), said: “Today’s result is a landmark case for both GMP and for victims of trafficking everywhere.
“The crimes of the Ashars are well-documented and, quite rightly, people continue to share a sense of disbelief at the prolonged cruelty they inflicted on their young victim.”
She added: “The money will in no way make up for what she went through over a number of years, but it will help her move on with her life and continue her inspiring recovery from these awful events.”
£100,000 seems low, actually. It’s minimal wages, but she should be getting compensation. Half a million would be more like it – and if they’re really millionaires, more than that. They held her in a fucking basement for nine years, and raped her.