Woman told to pay ‘slave’ £25,000

A former UK hospital director, who forced an African woman to work around the clock in the first case of “modern-day slavery” to come before a court, has been ordered to pay her victim £25,000.

Mwanahamisi Mruke was trafficked into Britain from Tanzania and then made to sleep on a mattress on the kitchen floor of the £500,000 home belonging to Saeeda Khan during her three-year ordeal.

She was initially given just £10 a month to complete all of her chores, but after a year payments ceased.

The 47-year-old, who worked 18-hour days and was not allowed to leave the address in Harrow, north-west London on her own, went through the “awful experience” in order to put her daughter through college, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Ms Khan, a 68-year-old widow, was guilty of “the most appalling greed”, a judge said after a jury unanimously convicted her of trafficking a person into the UK for exploitation.

He sentenced her to nine months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered her to pay £15,000 towards police and prosecution costs on top of the compensation for Ms Mruke.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC said Ms Khan had told “a pack of lies” during her trial by saying her victim, whom he described as “naive and illiterate”, was treated as part of the family. Sentencing her, he said: “Your own behaviour was callous and greedy.

“You could easily have afforded to pay her a reasonable sum by way of wages. You chose to give her virtually nothing.”

Had Ms Mruke been paid at the minimum wage for all the hours she worked for Ms Khan during her employment of three years and four months, she would have received £107,062.72, the court heard.

He told Ms Khan the only reason she was not facing an immediate custodial sentence was because of her age, the fact she has two adult disabled children and due to her own poor health.

Ms Mruke was brought to the UK after getting a job at a hospital in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, which Ms Khan owned following the death of her husband.

She was offered a job as a domestic servant at Ms Khan’s home and told she would work six hours a day in exchange for a payment of 120,000 Tanzanian shillings a month, about £50, paid to Ms Mruke’s daughter in Tanzania. A £10 allowance would be given to her each month.

When she initially arrived in London in October 2006 the arrangement was honoured, but payments stopped after the first year.

While Ms Mruke prepared meals for the Khan family, she was allowed only two slices of bread a day. Ms Khan would summon her to carry out errands by ringing a bell she kept in her bedroom.

Her working day started at 6 a.m. but she would not be allowed to go to bed until midnight as she cleaned, gardened, cooked meals and accompanied Ms Khan’s disabled son on walks, often in the middle of the night.

She was deprived of her passport and banned from contacting her family, meaning she was away from home for the deaths of both of her parents and also missed her daughter’s wedding.

The judge told Ms Khan: “You treated her appallingly. She was required to sleep on a mattress on the kitchen floor.

“You gave her a pittance by way of wages and indeed for a long time she received no money from you in this country at all.

“You made her work long hours so that she was always at your beck and call, whatever day of the week and whatever time of day she was required, either to look after you or your children.”

Ms Khan has 42 days to pay the compensation and the court costs.

The victim’s plight was only discovered when she went to see a doctor for an examination of her varicose veins. Ms Khan shouted at her victim in the medical centre car park in front of a Swahili interpreter who raised her concerns about what she had seen to authorities.