Deaf 'Child Slave' Gives Evidence Against Pair

A deaf woman who was allegedly kept for 10 years as a "child slave" by a couple in Manchester has been giving evidence to court via a video link.

Filmed interviews she gave to the police were played to a crown court but beforehand the woman asked: "Will I be kept from (the defendants) Mr and Mrs Ashar?".

The court was told the orphan was brought illegally into the UK in 2000.

No-one was sure of her age but it is thought she was about 10.

Jurors have heard that Ilyas and Tallat Ashar kept her overnight in a cellar of their house in Eccles, Greater Manchester.

She allegedly slept on a concrete floor and was made to cook, clean, wash and iron, and also cleaned the cars and houses of family and friends of the couple.

Shown a photograph of Mr Ashar, the alleged victim said: "He is the bad man who had sex with me."

Upon seeing a picture of Mrs Ashar, she said: "She used to hit me in the face and cut me with the ring on her finger. It would really hurt. I would clean full-time. That was my life.

"She would pick things up and drop them on my head. She used to stop me eating and drinking and would say: 'Go out and wash the car.'

"She would push me in the back and then shut the door and lock it behind me. I would sit for a long, long time crying. I was really upset, crying and alone.

"I tried to get out and she would drag me back upstairs by my hair. She would hit me with a rolling pin."

Prosecutor Peter Cadwallader said the victim was kept in the cellar without washing facilities or a toilet for hours packing football shirts and mobile phone covers.

She had not been to school at home in Pakistan or in the UK and could neither read nor write but was taught to sign her name so it could be used to claim benefits.

Mr Cadwallader told the court: "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."

Ilyas Ashar, 83, and his wife Tallat, 66, are accused of human trafficking, false imprisonment and benefit fraud.

Mr Ashar also faces 12 charges of rape. Mrs Ashar is further charged with sexual assault and unlawful wounding. They deny the charges.

Their daughter Faaiza, 24, denies benefit fraud.

The alleged victim, who cannot speak, gave evidence from a remote location with the help of interpreters and sign language experts.