'Deaf girl kept in cellar' (From Asian Image)

'Deaf girl kept in cellar'

6:20pm Thursday 9th February 2012 in United Kingdom news

A deaf girl of 10 was trafficked into the UK, repeatedly raped, kept in a Salford cellar and treated as a virtual slave for almost a decade, a court has heard.

The orphaned youngster from Pakistan, who is profoundly deaf and has no speech, was locked in a cellar each night where she would sleep on a concrete floor and by day was forced to work for no money and was sexually assaulted, Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester was told.

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

If their alleged victim displeased them she would be forced into their cellar where the girl would "sit there for hours crying and locked in", the court heard.

They kept the girl, now aged between 19 and 21, at their home in Cromwell Road, Eccles in Salford, Greater Manchester, after bringing her into Britain from Pakistan in June 2000, Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, told the jury.

The victim's true age is not known but it is thought she was aged between 10 and 12 when she came to the UK, allowed in by immigration on the basis she was to work as a domestic servant.

Although supposed to be employed as a domestic help, she was never paid and just given food and lodging, Mr Cadwallader told the jury.

"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," he said.

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

Ilyas also denies 12 counts of rape, Tallat denies one count of sexual assault and unlawful wounding and the pair along with their daughter Faaiza, 24, deny charges of benefit fraud. The case continues.