An elderly British man has been convicted on 13 counts of raping a deaf mute girl brought into the country from Pakistan,
Sky News reported Thursday.
Trial testimony showed that pensioner Ilyas Ashar, 84, sexually abused the girl, who was brought into Britain in June 2000, when she was approximately 10 years old.
For almost a decade the girl was forced to work for Ashar’s family as a domestic servant. She was hit repeatedly and forced to sleep and work in the cellar at the family home in Salford, according to Sky News.
Ashar had previously been convicted on multiple counts that included trafficking a person into Britain for the purpose of exploitation and providing false information to obtain benefits in connection with the Pakistani girl.
His wife, Tallat, 68, has been convicted on related trafficking and benefit fraud charges, and his daughter Faaiza, 46, was found guilty at an earlier trial of two counts of furnishing false information to obtain a benefit.
The victim, who spent 49 days on the witness stand describing her abuse, said she was forced to sleep on a concrete floor, kept in solitary confinement in the basement, and forced to clean for family and friends of the Ashars,
the Daily Mail reported.
The Ashars were arrested in June 2009 after police went to the house on a separate investigation and found her living in the cellar.
Because the victim, now in her early twenties, fears the Ashar family may attempt to retaliate against her, she is in a witness protection program.
Ilyas, Taalat, and Faaiza Ashar face sentencing next week, Sky News reported.
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