'Modern day slave' was exploited by Harrow pensioner Saeeda Khan, Southwark Crown Court hears (From Harrow Times)

5:24pm Monday 7th March 2011

By Jack Royston »


A HARROW pensioner deprived a Tanzanian woman of food, liberty and her rights, turning her into a “modern day slave”, a court heard today.

Saeeda Khan, 68, of Whitmore Road, made Mwanahanisi Mruke sleep on a thin mattress in the cold of her kitchen, at times getting by on just two slices of bread, and summoned her by ringing a bell, prosecutors say.

Mrs Khan is accused of stopping her leaving the house, listening in on phone calls to relatives and even preventing the 47-year-old returning home to see her parents in their dying days or attend their funerals.

But even the £10 monthly allowance she had promised her employee was only paid for the first handful of months of her four-year stay and cash supposed to be given to her daughter was never transferred, it has been claimed.

Caroline Haughey, prosecuting, told Southwark Crown Court: “Deprived of her passport, deprived of free communication with her family, deprived of her income, deprived of her liberty, deprived of her food, it is only right that her conditions when working under Saeeda Khan be described as modern day slavery.”

Eventually Ms Mruke, who was supposed to work six hours a day but allegedly did shifts three times as long, became so desperate she was left simply waiting for her visa to run out, the court heard.

She was forced to work even when ill but it was her need for medical help that left her alone with a doctor and translator and it was then she first told of her treatment in February last year, Ms Haughey said.

She was at the Shaftesbury Medical Centre, in South Harrow, when she confided in the pair and Mrs Khan, who was made to wait outside, was seen shouting at Ms Mruke both inside and outside the clinic, the court heard.

When confronted by officers about the lack of payment to Ms Mruke, the defendant said “who will help me now”, it is claimed.

Ms Haughey said: “She was given a mattress and a blanket and told to sleep on the floor in the kitchen. She says herself she had one blanket and she was very cold.”

Mrs Khan does not deny bringing Ms Mruke into Britain to work as a domestic servant but claimed in police interviews the 47-year-old wanted to sleep on a mattress and had been offered alternatives.

She denies exploiting her employee.

The trial continues.
Modern day slave' was exploited by Harrow pensioner Saeeda Khan, Southwark Crown Court hears (From Harrow Times)