Woman used as 'slave' wins case against former hospital director

A former hospital director has been convicted of trafficking a woman from Tanzania to Britain and using her as a "slave", in the first case of its kind to come before a court.

Southwark crown court heard that Mwanahamisi Mruke, 47, was brought to the UK by Saeeda Khan with the promise of a domestic service visa and 120,000 Tanzanian shillings a month (£50). There was also £10 a month pocket money. Desperate to fund her daughter Zakia's college education, Mruke agreed.

But when she arrived in Britain in October 2006, Mruke was forced by Khan to work around the clock and sleep on the kitchen floor of her home in Harrow, London, for the next three years.

Mruke was fed just two slices of bread a day, and ordered around by a bell, which her captor kept in her bedroom.

Although the payment arrangements were initially honoured, Khan stopped paying Mruke after one year. She was also prohibited from leaving the house, her passport was taken away, and Khan made threats about Mruke's relatives in Tanzania.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/17/slave-wins-case-hospital-director