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Man who made wife live like slave for two years faces jail Man who made wife live like slave for two years faces jail
(about 2 hours later)
The first Briton to be convicted of forcing their spouse into domestic servitude is facing prison after it emerged he made his wife live as a slave to his family, beating and abusing her over a period of two years. The first Briton to be convicted of forcing their spouse into domestic servitude is facing a likely prison sentence after a court heard how he subjected his wife to an existence of “violence, intimidation, aggression and misery”.
Safraz Ahmed, who will be sentenced later on Friday, often forced his wife, Samara, who had come to the UK from Pakistan willingly under an arranged marriage, to work from 5am to midnight, she told police after she was finally freed. Safraz Ahmed, who will be sentenced later on Friday, made his wife, Sumara Iram, endure “physical and mental torture” over two-and-a-half years after she came to the UK from Pakistan for an arranged marriage, one that she had willingly entered into.
He sent her abusive text messages, injured her nose and pushed cushions into her face, on one occasion watched by his own mother. She was not allowed out unaccompanied, and was given an allowance of £10 a month to keep in touch with her own family. Ahmed, 34, a mechanic from Charlton in south-east London, hit his wife, threw tins of cat food at her, sent streams of abusive and demeaning text messages, and once told her to jump in front of a vehicle or into a river, Woolwich crown court was told.
Samara Ahmed, an educated woman with a postgraduate degree who wanted to study further, eventually went to police after trying to kill herself. She has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of her ordeal. Caroline Haughey, outlining the prosecution case, told the judge, Christopher Hehir, that Iram was an educated woman from a liberal background who arrived in the UK thinking she would be treated well.
Safraz Ahmed, from Charlton in south-east London, admitted a single count of holding another in domestic servitude at Woolwich crown court last month, having changed his plea on the second day of the trial, after a jury had already been sworn in. “She expected, as any wife, that she was entering a harmonious household where she was an equal,” Haughey said. “He told her he had married her so she could look after his mother and his home.”
He and his wife had a religious marriage ceremony in Pakistan in 2006, but she did not move to the UK until 2012, partly so she could finish a masters degree in Islamic studies, but also because of visa issues. Iram, who was in court for the hearing, was often obliged to work from 5am to midnight cooking, cleaning and tending to her husband, his mother, who lived with them, and various other in-laws who visited.
Samara Ahmed, now 29, told police she expected a normal marriage, but found her husband reacted with aggression when she asked about consummating the union, and told her she was only there to care for him and his family. Once, Haughey said, Ahmed hit his wife for, as he viewed it, failing to tend properly to his sister. If the family told her to “stand on one leg” she should do it without question, he said.
She found herself confined to the family home, only allowed out to carry bags on shopping trips. When home, where her duties included cooking, cleaning, washing and ironing, she was telephoned every 10 minutes to make sure the phone was not engaged. Ahmed has admitted holding his wife in domestic servitude, an offence under the 2009 Coroners Act, from her arrival in Britain at the end of 2012 to when police took her to a refuge in August 2015. The charge relates to the middle of the three levels of seriousness, domestic servitude rather than slavery. He also admitted an offence of actual bodily harm following an incident in which he broke her nose.
Her husband and his family constantly criticised and undermined her, and placed limits on her clothes and hair, even how often she could laugh. The court was told that the family first came to police attention with this latter incident, in February 2014. Officers were called by neighbours – who said they had never previously seen Iram – after they saw her outside the family home dressed in just a dress and flip-flops despite the cold, before her husband dragged her back inside by her hair.
The abuse first came to police attention in February 2014 when next-door neighbours – who said they had never previously seen Samera – reported that she was outside the family home in just a dress and flipflops despite the cold, before her husband dragged her back inside by her hair. Police saw she was injured and arrested her husband. Police noticed injuries to her nose and an eye and arrested her husband. But the next day she signed a document asking for him to be freed, and saying she was not under pressure.
However, the next day Samara Ahmed signed a document asking for her husband to be freed, and saying she was not under pressure. Speaking to police the following year, after leaving her husband, Iram said that, in fact, the family tried to keep her away from police by locking her in a bathroom and then ordering her to a garden shed.
In later statements, Samara, who could not speak English, said she had been locked in her bedroom and then in a garden shed in an attempt to keep her away from police. Haughey described the parallel mental abuse meted out, which she said had left Iram with post-traumatic stress disorder.
She eventually left the house in August 2015, after she tried to kill herself. Her husband did not seek medical treatment for her – she was ordered to be sick and then taken to attend a wedding – but later she went to a refuge, and over a period of months told police about her ordeal. Once her husband told her: “You are scared of being alone, but you are not scared of my beatings,” the court was told. On another occasion, when she begged his forgiveness, Ahmed said he found her “disgusting”, and that she should jump in front of a car or into a river.
“It was an atmosphere of fear, constantly punctuated by violence,” Haughey said.
She eventually left the house in August 2015, after she tried to kill herself. She phoned police, who persuaded her to go to a refuge.
Offering mitigation for Ahmed, Cathy Ryan said Iram, who has a masters degree and comes from a relatively privileged background, arguably came to the UK with expectations of marriage that were “a little unrealistic”.
Her husband changed his mind during the gap between their marriage in Pakistan in 2006 and her arrival in the UK six years later, a delay caused by her finishing a masters degree in Islamic studies, and also because of visa issues.
He was “frustrated” at the marriage, Ryan said, adding: “It’s right to say that Sumara bore the brunt of this frustration.”
Ryan countered the prosecution assertion that Iram was never allowed out alone, saying she took her nephew to nursery alone and “could just have walked away if she wanted”. However, Ryan added, this was unlikely given her lack of English or other contacts in the UK.