Deaf News: Man who repeatedly raped Deaf girl sentenced to just 13 years in prison

A man who repeatedly raped a Deaf girl he kept as a slave has been sentenced to only 13 years in prison.

The victim was sexually abused from pre-puberty, after being trafficked to the UK, and was made to work for the family for nearly 10 years. They also used her name to claim more than £30,000 in benefits.

Here’s an extract from the Guardian’s report:

A pensioner who repeatedly raped a deaf and mute girl he had trafficked into the UK to work as his domestic servant has been jailed for 13 years.

Ilyas Ashar, 84, brought the girl to the UK from Pakistan in June 2000 when she was aged around 10. She was beaten and forced to sleep and work in the cellar of Ashar’s five-bed family home in Eccles, Greater Manchester.

Their victim, who had no family or friends in the UK and had never been to school in Pakistan or Britain, was taught by the Ashars to sign her name so they could steal more than £30,000 in benefits. She was made to work for the Ashars for almost a decade.

The girl was sexually abused from pre-puberty, Minshull Street crown court in Manchester heard. Ashar would routinely rape the girl in the cellar and other houses the family owned while she tried to fight him off.

Ashar was convicted by a jury last week of 13 specimen counts of rape, though the court heard that the abuse happened “many, many times more”. He was convicted at an earlier trial of two counts of trafficking a person into the UK for exploitation, two counts of furnishing false information to obtain a benefit and one of permitting furnishing of false information to obtain a benefit.

His wife, Tallat Ashar, 68, was jailed for five years for two counts of trafficking a person into the UK for exploitation and four counts of furnishing false information to obtain a benefit.

To read the rest of the story, click here: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/23/ilyas-ashar-jailed-rape-deaf-mute-girl-salford