Tanzanian woman used as 'slave' wins case against former hospital director...

[Papa Diana]

BBC News - A case of modern day slavery in the suburbs


A case of modern day slavery in the suburbs

By Chris Summers
BBC News

A pensioner has been convicted of trafficking and exploiting an African woman she used as a "slave". While it was the first prosecution of its kind, could there be many more cases behind the UK's front doors?

An innocuous bungalow in a leafy London suburb might not be an obvious location for "modern day slavery".

But there can be little doubt that is what 47-year-old Mwanamisi Mruke suffered at the hands of Saeeda Khan.

The 68-year-old hired Mrs Mruke in her native Tanzania in 2006 after she was made redundant from the hospital in Dar es Salaam run by Khan and her late husband.

Khan arranged a domestic service visa and promised to pay her 120,000 shillings (£21) a month into her Tanzanian bank account and £10 a month pocket money in London.

Mrs Mruke, desperate to fund her daughter Zakia's college education, agreed.

But when she got to London, Khan took her passport away, forced her to sleep on the kitchen floor and gave her two slices of bread a day for food. Her clothes were kept in a garden shed.

Between 6am and midnight each day, Mrs Mruke was expected to be at the beck and call of Khan, who would ring a bell when she or her two grown-up, disabled children wanted something.
Continue reading the main story

"They have such disregard for these people that they don't think they are doing anything wrong. They think they are worth less than an animal" Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland said.

Sometimes she would even be woken during the night to take Khan's son out for a walk.

Mrs Mruke did not get a single day off in four years.

Trapped in the house in Harrow, north-west London, unable to speak English and terrified by threats Khan made about her relatives in Tanzania, Mrs Mruke was cowed into submission.

After a while, the pittance she was being paid dried up completely.

Khan refused to let her return home after the deaths of her mother and father or for her daughter's wedding in 2009.

Caroline Haughey, prosecuting, told Southwark Crown Court: "From the moment of her arrival in England Mwanamisi was made to sleep, work and live in conditions that fall by any understanding into that of slavery."

Eventually, in February 2010, during a visit by Mrs Mruke to her local GP, the doctor and an interpreter - Rhoda Mwanga - became concerned about her living conditions and her interaction with Khan.

Mrs Mwanga contacted a charity, Kalayaan, which looks out for people trafficked into domestic servitude. It in turn rang the police.

Saeeda Khan would ring a bell to summon Mwanahamisi Mruke

Ten days later, police officers, accompanied by Mrs Mwanga and staff from Kalayaan, visited Khan's home and took Mrs Mruke to a place of refuge.

Mrs Mwanga told the court: "When we were in the kitchen, Mwanamisi said 'that's where I sleep' and pointed at the floor."

Khan was arrested and later charged with trafficking a person for exploitation.

During the investigation police found a sinister letter, written in Swahili and by someone in Tanzania, which warned Mrs Mruke not to complain about her treatment.
Videolink reunion

The letter said: "While you're still working with the woman and her children you must obey her all the time and you must do your work with love and show your love to the children."

The letter warned her that her life might be in danger if she spoke out, adding: "We are asking you to stay quiet in that place and to continue with work peacefully. Your blessing will be in Heaven, not here."

Her daughter, Zakia Ali Hassan, speaking by videolink via a Swahili interpreter, told the court how happy her mother was when she was rescued from Khan's clutches.

She added: "I would have loved for my mother to be there [at my wedding] but I had no choice."

Because Mrs Mruke has been unable to return to Tanzania since being rescued, Judge Geoffrey Rivlin allowed the videolink to be kept open for a few minutes to allow mother and daughter to see and speak to each other.

Det Insp Kevin Hyland, who headed the investigation, said it was the first time someone had been prosecuted for trafficking a "slave" for domestic servitude.

A doctor at this Harrow surgery became concerned during an appointment with Mwanamisi Mruke

He said the Metropolitan Police were currently investigating another 15 cases of trafficking for forced labour, and had worked with forces in Surrey, Sussex, Hertfordshire and the West Midlands on similar cases.

Mr Hyland said: "We are seeing more of this but we are putting it down to improvements in our intelligence-gathering. We have introduced a new system of direct reporting which allows charities and NGOs to notify us directly."
Commodity

Mr Hyland said the cases under investigation involved individuals from Saudi Arabia, India, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam.

"In some of these cases their culture is a class system and people can be treated as a commodity," he said. "They have such disregard for these people that they don't think they are doing anything wrong. They think they are worth less than an animal."

Mr Hyland said anyone employing a domestic servant in the UK on more than a very temporary basis has to pay them at least minimum wage and treat them according to UK laws.

About Mrs Mruke, he added: "She may want to go back to Tanzania, because she has a family there. But if she can't go back for fear of reprisals I'm sure that would be looked upon positively by the UK Border Agency."

A spokeswoman for Kalayaan said: "Law enforcement has typically struggled to identify trafficking for domestic servitude because domestic work itself is lawful and need not be exploitative.

"We are therefore encouraged that a case has finally come to the court under the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act that was passed nearly seven years ago."

 

[Papa Diana]

Ex-doctor guilty of keeping 'slave' - Crime, UK - The Independent

Ex-doctor guilty of keeping 'slave'

Wednesday, 16 March 2011


A retired doctor was convicted today of forcing a middle-aged woman to be her £10-a-month "slave".

Saeeda Khan, 68, trafficked African Mwanahanisi Mruke into Britain, then forced her to sleep on the kitchen floor of her suburban London home for three years.

After bringing her into the country from Tanzania, she initially gave her an allowance of £10 a month to work around the clock at her beck and call. Within a year she ceased to pay her altogether.

As a jury at Southwark Crown Court found Khan guilty of trafficking a person into the UK for exploitation, Ms Mruke said she could "never forgive" her captor.

"I felt like a fool, I was treated live a slave," she said.

"Even the money I was promised, I was never paid. I feel terrible about this.

"I was hoping I would receive a salary and improve my life. But my hopes were dashed, my strength was reduced and I became unwell."

During her three-year ordeal from October 2006, Ms Mruke's parents died and her daughter was married. Yet Khan granted her no contact with her family.

"I have missed all the love from my family," Ms Mruke said. "My father's love, my mother's love and my daughter's love."

She was brought to the UK after getting a job at a hospital in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania which Khan owned.

Khan offered her the chance to move to the UK as a domestic servant, telling her she would work six hours a day.

It was agreed that Ms Mruke's daughter in Tanzania would be paid 120,000 Tanzanian shillings a month - equivalent to £50 - while she would receive a £10 allowance in London.

But although the arrangement was initially honoured following her arrival in the UK in October 2006, Khan stopped paying after the first year.

Khan fed her two slices of bread a day and ordered her around by ringing a bell she kept in her bedroom.

The 47-year-old was banned from leaving the house in Harrow, north west London, and never learned English because the family watched Pakistani TV.

Her working day began at 6am and she would often not be allowed to rest before midnight as she cleaned, gardened, cooked meals and accompanied Khan's disabled son on walks.

Ms Mruke said she was paid £120 for her first year's work, just £10 a month, and received no pay for the following three years.

"I didn't have any time for myself at all," she said. "I worked for very long hours - sometimes I didn't sleep.

"I used to do all the housework, cook, cleaning, inside and out.

"She didn't attack me physically. It was just the words and the way she was treating me."

The victim's plight was discovered only when she went to see a doctor for an examination of her varicose veins.

Even then, Khan continued to shout at her in the medical centre car park, in front of a Swahili interpreter, who raised concerns about what she had seen to the authorities.

Recalling her ordeal, Ms Mruke said: "I was working very hard and I became ill. I was working many hours, impossible hours.

"I feel that justice should be passed and others should learn from this. I feel terrible about her.

"She should pay me compensation but I have lost lots more.

"I lost my family and my health is not so good at the moment. I feel that if I go back home, my life may not be safe because of what I have said about Mrs Khan."

Khan, sitting at the back of the court instead of in the dock, did not react as the unanimous verdict was relayed to her through an interpreter.

It had taken the jury seven hours and 38 minutes to return with a verdict.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin told the court she had been found guilty of "appalling greed" in what was a "most unusual case".

He said: "This is such a clear case of exploitation and I am very concerned because the victim in this case was put through an awful experience."

Mrs Mruke was not in court to see Khan convicted today. She could receive compensation from Khan, whom the court was told has a £500,000 house and £82,000 in one bank account alone.

The judge said of Khan: "You will not be surprised that compensation will loom large in my thinking."

He told Khan, who will be sentenced later, that she will not go to prison however, adding: "She is 68 years old. I will put her out of her misery. I am not going to send her to prison immediately, although a suspended sentence is very much on the cards."

He said the ill health of two of her children, and her own poor health, were contributory factors.

Information about her financial affairs will be given to the court before she is sentenced.

Judge Rivlin said: "This was an offence actually of the most appalling greed and I think that when one is concerned with an offence of that nature, very often the financial implications of the offence are of real importance when it comes to sentence."

The judge warned that the consequences could be "very serious" for Khan if he is not given the full picture about her finances. She could also be liable to pay prosecution costs.

Speaking of the unusual nature of the offence, he added: "I was told this is the first case of its kind in which an adult had been charged with exploitation of this kind, as opposed to exploitation by bringing the victim into this country in order to use her as a prostitute, or something like that."

He praised the police for their work, saying they had done a "marvellous job" in bringing Khan to justice.

Judge Rivlin adjourned the case until later this afternoon, when he may pass sentence.

 

[Washawasha]

Dah? pole sana dada yetu hao ndio wadosi hawana mana hata kdogo wana roho mbaya kama nini cjui kwao wao ni mwendo wa kazi ngumu na mshahara mdogo

 

[nsimba]

pole na hongera kuokolewa! Hii ilikuwa ni jehanamu ya aina yake.

 

[babu M]

A retired doctor has become the first person to be convicted of modern-day slavery - trafficking a person for the purpose of domestic servitude.

Saeeda Khan, 68, made Mwanahanisi Mruke sleep on the kitchen floor and fed her two slices of bread a day at her bungalow in Harrow.

Mrs Mruke was not allowed out on her own, had her telephone calls monitored and was prevented from flying back to Tanzania to attend her parents' funerals and her daughter's wedding. She did all the housework and was a full-time carer for Khan's two disabled adult children.

Mrs Mruke, 47, was hired in Tanzania in 2006 after she was made redundant from the hospital in Dar es Salaam which had been run Khan and her late husband. She was promised £10 a month as a living allowance and £50 a month for her daughter, but Khan stopped paying her after two years.

Khan was convicted of trafficking a person into the UK for exploitation at Southwark crown court yesterday. She was given a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £25,000 in compensation to Mrs Mruke and £15,000 in costs.

After the case, police said they are investigating 12 other suspected cases of domestic servitude in London.

MTAZAMO: Inasikitisha kuona huyu mama akwenda lupango na hiyo fidia aliyotozwa £25,000 hasa ukichukulia alikuwa dokta.

 

[Futota]

hii inasikitisha sana, masikini huyu mama dr alikuwa anafanya fadhila kwa huyo ex nurse, kamchukua ughaibuni, hatima yake mambo kama haya yanamkuta maskini, laiti angelijua! sheria za ughaibuni bwana unabidi kuwa mwangalifu sana, sio kama bongo vitu kuchukulia kuurahisi rahisi, angalia sasa mama dr haya yamemkuta. kuna kesi moja inafanana na hivi, mama mzazi aliwekwa jela ati kwa kumpiga mtoto wake wa kumzaa, jirani walisikia kelele mtoto analia, wakaripoti polisi basi tayari kesi ikaanza, mama akajikuta anawekwa jela kwa ati child abuse. sisi bongo kama mimi siwezi kuhesabu ni mara ngapi mama anakucharaza fimbo hadi shule unashindwa kwenda kwa maumivu na ni kitu cha kawaida

 

[Dr Matola PhD]

hii inasikitisha sana, masikini huyu mama dr alikuwa anafanya fadhila kwa huyo ex nurse, kamchukua ughaibuni, hatima yake mambo kama haya yanamkuta maskini, laiti angelijua! sheria za ughaibuni bwana unabidi kuwa mwangalifu sana, sio kama bongo vitu kuchukulia kuurahisi rahisi, angalia sasa mama dr haya yamemkuta. kuna kesi moja inafanana na hivi, mama mzazi aliwekwa jela ati kwa kumpiga mtoto wake wa kumzaa, jirani walisikia kelele mtoto analia, wakaripoti polisi basi tayari kesi ikaanza, mama akajikuta anawekwa jela kwa ati child abuse. sisi bongo kama mimi siwezi kuhesabu ni mara ngapi mama anakucharaza fimbo hadi shule unashindwa kwenda kwa maumivu na ni kitu cha kawaida

Tafuta mkalimani akutafsirie hii thread ni nini kilichoandikwa, nina hakika ungekuwa unajuwa kusoma na kutafsiri kingereza usingecomment upupu.

 

[mmakonde]

Nimemsikia huyu Mrs Mruke akihojiwa BBC kutumia mkalimani.
Amelipwa fidia ya Pound 25000 sawa na Milioni 50 za Tanzania.

Cha kusitisha huyu Mruke,amesema hawezi kurudi Tanzania kwa sababu anaogopa maisha yake kwa sabau ya ndugu wa huyu Mdosi.
Mbaya zaidi huyu Mruke cant speak English,kwa nini asirudi tu Bongo ajenge mansion yake!!!!!

 

[Masanja]

hii inasikitisha sana, masikini huyu mama dr alikuwa anafanya fadhila kwa huyo ex nurse, kamchukua ughaibuni, hatima yake mambo kama haya yanamkuta maskini, laiti angelijua! sheria za ughaibuni bwana unabidi kuwa mwangalifu sana, sio kama bongo vitu kuchukulia kuurahisi rahisi, angalia sasa mama dr haya yamemkuta. kuna kesi moja inafanana na hivi, mama mzazi aliwekwa jela ati kwa kumpiga mtoto wake wa kumzaa, jirani walisikia kelele mtoto analia, wakaripoti polisi basi tayari kesi ikaanza, mama akajikuta anawekwa jela kwa ati child abuse. sisi bongo kama mimi siwezi kuhesabu ni mara ngapi mama anakucharaza fimbo hadi shule unashindwa kwenda kwa maumivu na ni kitu cha kawaida

You must be joking!

Watanzania tunapenda sana hii mambo ya house girl/house boy. I am sorry to say, lakini nikiona watu wanavyowatreat wafanyakazi wa nyumbani..nadhani huyu mama alistahili hii adhabu! Lazima tufike kipindi wafanyakazi wa ndani tuawaheshimu na kuwalipa ujira kama kazi nyingine. Mtu unampa mshahara wa 10,000tshs kwa mwezi? and you claim eti unamsaidia? Shame on you!