LONDON: An 84-year-old man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison in Britain for repeatedly raping a deaf and mute girl he trafficked into the UK and kept as a virtual slave.
Ilyas Ashar — who brought the girl into the UK from Pakistan in 2000 when she was around 10 — was previously convicted on trafficking and benefits fraud charges in relation to the child.
The victim in the case, who is now a young woman and cannot be identified for legal reasons, was beaten and kept in a cellar.
Ashar and his 68-year-old wife Tallat were also convicted of exploiting the girl, who is profoundly deaf and cannot speak, to fraudulently claim more than £30,000 ($48,000, 35,000 euros) in welfare payments.
For that, Tallat was sentenced to five years in prison.
The couple’s daughter Faaiza Ashar, 46, was sentenced to carry out community service after being convicted of giving false information to obtain benefits.
The victim cannot be named for legal reasons.
Ashar had pleaded not guilty.
Sentencing the couple at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester, Judge Peter Lakin said the couple had subjected the girl “to a life of misery and degradation.”
“You, Ilyas Ashar, and you, Tallat Ashar, did not treat this girl as a human being. To you she was merely an object to be used, abused and cast aside at will,” he said.
The girl had no family or friends in Britain and had never been to school there or in Pakistan but was taught to sign her name to claim state benefits, the trial heard.
She wanted to return to her family in Pakistan but was not allowed to.
Ashar routinely raped her, despite her efforts to fight him off, and he also beat and slapped her if she did not follow orders.
Her plight was discovered after police and local authorities raided the house in 2009 and found her asleep in the cold and dark cellar.
The trial heard that the victim was now recovering with the help of social services.
Man jailed for raping deaf, mute Pakistani girl in UK
