President Dr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete chairs a cabinet meeting at Dar es Salaam State House this morning(photos by Freddy Maro)
President Dr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete chairs a cabinet meeting at Dar es Salaam State House this morning(photos by Freddy Maro)
16 March 2011 Last updated at 13:10 ET
ReplyDeleteHarrow woman convicted of keeping Tanzanian as slave
A woman has been found guilty of keeping an African woman as a slave in London for four years.
Mwanahamisi Mruke was flown from Tanzania in October 2006 and made to work 18-hour days carrying out chores for Saeeda Khan, 68, jurors were told.
Southwark Crown Court heard Miss Mruke, 47, was denied her passport and liberty and endured the ordeal to support her daughter through college in Africa.
Khan was convicted 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 like a slave," Ms Mruke said.
After bringing her into the country from Tanzania, Khan, of Harrow, north-west London, initially gave her an allowance of £10 a month to work around the clock at her beck and call, the court heard.
'Never paid'
Within a year she stopped paying her altogether.
"Even the money I was promised, I was never paid. I feel terrible about this," Ms Mruke said.
"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."
Ms Mruke was brought to the UK after getting a job at a hospital in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania which Khan owned.
Khan told her that she would work six hours a day, and that her daughter in Tanzania would be paid 120,000 Tanzanian shillings a month, equivalent to £50.
Khan fed her two slices of bread a day and ordered her around by ringing a bell she kept in her bedroom.
Varicose veins
Ms Mruke was banned from leaving the house and never learned English because the family watched Pakistani TV.
Beginning work at 0600, 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 told the court that sometimes she did not sleep due to the long hours she had to work, doing "all the housework, cooking, cleaning, inside and out".
"She didn't attack me physically. It was just the words and the way she was treating me.
"I feel that justice should be passed and others should learn from this. I feel terrible about her.
"She [Khan] should pay me compensation but I have lost lots more," she said.
Ms Mruke's plight was discovered when she went to see a doctor for an examination of her varicose veins.
During her three-year ordeal, Ms Mruke's parents died and her daughter was married, yet she was granted no contact with her family