Girl Kept In Cellar For A Decade, Court Hears

A deaf girl was kept in a cellar for almost a decade and repeatedly raped after being trafficked from Pakistan when she was about 10 years old, a court has been told.

The orphaned girl, who is unable to speak, was forced to work for money every day before being locked in the room where she would sleep on a concrete floor, Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard.

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

But prosecutor Peter Cadwallader told the jury the girl, now aged between 19 and 21 was kept at their home in Eccles, Greater Manchester, after she was brought from Pakistan in June 2000.

He said it was a "mystery and matter of concern" how a child that age could getthrough immigration and there may be "significant and proper" criticism of the Border Agency, whose role had a "good deal to answer for".

The girl was allowed into the UK on the basis she was coming in to work as a domestic servant and was made to cook, clean, do the washing and ironing for the Ashars and clean the houses and cars of their family and friends, the court heard.

Mr Cadwallader said: "In essence it is the prosecution case that she lived in a state of servitude when she entered the Ashar home in Pakistan, then later when she was brought to this country in June 2000.

"The Crown say she was the ideal target for this exploitation as she is and was extremely vulnerable.

"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.

"On other occasions, during the day, presumably when she displeased Tallat Ashar, she was pushed into the cellar, pushed down the stairs and the door locked.

"She would sit there for hours crying and locked in."

The alleged victim had no family or friends in the UK and had never been to school in Pakistan or Britain. She cannot read or write and the only people she knew in Britain were the Ashars.

However, she was taught to write her signature so her name could be used to claim benefits, it is alleged.

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

Ilyas Ashar also denies 12 counts of rape, while his wife denies one count of sexual assault and unlawful wounding. The pair along with their daughter Faaiza, 24, also deny charges of benefit fraud.

The case continues.