Cruel landlady jailed for holding vulnerable woman as a domestic slave in 16-year campaign of abuse is ordered to pay her victim £200,000

• You can contact The Samaritans helpline 24/7 on 116 123 for help and support 

A cruel landlady who was jailed for holding a vulnerable woman as a domestic slave in a 16-year-campaign of physical and psychological abuse has been ordered to pay her victim £200,000.

Wealthy Farzana Kausar, 59, was locked up for six years and eight months last December after she was convicted of keeping a person in slavery and attempting to pervert the court of justice.

Throughout the years of abuse, Kausar’s victim, Jacqueline Whittington – a vulnerable 62-year-old woman – said she ‘wanted to kill herself’ as she forced to cook, clean and care for the landlady’s children, often working 14 hour days.

Kausar went on to steal £80,000 of Ms Whittington’s benefits and isolated from her loved ones. benefits and isolated from her loved ones.  

Now, the callous landlady has been ordered to pay her victim £198,000, which includes state and housing benefits she took from her, along with calculated unpaid wages during her time in servitude.

Wealthy property owner Farzana Kausar, 59, was locked up for six years and eight months last December after she was convicted of keeping a person in slavery and attempting to pervert the court of justice

The callous landlady has been ordered to pay her victim £198,000, which includes state and housing benefits she took from her, along with calculated unpaid wages during her time in servitude

Kausar’s victim, Jacqueline Whittington (pictured) – a vulnerable 62-year-old woman – said she ‘wanted to kill herself’ as she forced to cook, clean and care for the landlady’s children, often working 14 hour days 

An additional £7,000 was also confiscated for National Insurance payments.

The lump sump was calculated as a mean value had Ms Whittington received national minimum wage or national average income.   

Lewes Crown Court heard that Kausar has sufficient funds to pay the confiscation order in full, and was given three months to do so or face an extension to her jail sentence. 

Throughout the years of harm, Kausar, would ferry her between properties in Sussex and London, forcing her to look after her young children, cook for the family, clean their home and carry out other household chores.

She would then accompany Ms Whittington  to all medical appointments, insisting that she was her carer and had her best wishes at heart.

The selfish woman had taken full control of Ms Whittington’s finances, opening a bank account in her name and made benefit claims on her behalf. She withdrew money from the accounts and pocketed benefit payments for herself.

Her victim’s bank accounts were used to pay bills from across Kausar’s property empire and her name was used to register Kausar’s car for disabled use – allowing her to dodge road tax and park in disabled bays.

Police were alerted in May 2019, when a nanny who had been employed to support Kausar’s family noticed one of the helpers was treated differently.

She was subjected to abuse, seemed to be carrying out most of the household chores and appeared to be living at the address.

The nanny informed Adult Social Services, who reported it to Sussex Police, explain that ‘something didn’t feel quite right’ about the situation she had witnessed.

Detectives visited the address and found all of Ms Whittington’s belongings were in black bin bags, while she was forced to sleep in the children’s bedroom.

She had no access to her ID documents, passport or bank cards which were found in a locked room, along with financial documents made out in her name related to addresses to which she had no connection.

Kausar was arrested on suspicion of modern slavery offences and assault before being released on conditional bail while the enquiry continued.

Ms Whittington was then rehoused and was supported by social services. But shortly after, she disappeared. Her phone numbers were disconnected, she left her GP and made no contact with any support services.

She only resurfaced when the officer in charge of the case received a letter, seemingly from Ms Whittington, retracting her allegations and claiming it was all an elaborate set-up by the informant to get Kausar into trouble.

Police were able to trace Ms Whittington to an address in London in May 2020.It was revealed the letter had been written under duress.

The victim had been forced to write it by Kausar in an attempt to cover up her crimes.

Ms Whittington was freed for a second time and placed in safe accommodation, while Kausar was further arrested for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

A jury took just three hours last October to find Kausar guilty of keeping a person in slavery and perverting the course of justice.

They had heard throughout the trial that Ms Whittington had considered suicide because she ‘just can’t take it anymore’ attributing her will to live for the love of the children in the home. 

Investigating officer Detective Constable Josh Bellamy said: ‘Farzana Kausar denied her victim the most basic of human needs during 16 years of control and manipulation.

‘She amassed her own personal wealth while siphoning off her victim’s benefits, using her bank accounts to pay for bills and forcing her to work in her home without payment.

‘Kausar is rightly behind bars and, while her vulnerable victim lost years of her freedom and must deal with the impact for the rest of her life, I hope these financial reparations go some way to compensating her for the treatment she has suffered.’

DC Bellamy added: ‘This confiscation order should also send a clear message to offenders that we will do everything in our power to hold you fully accountable for your crimes and will use all tools at our disposal to get justice for victims.

‘If you believe you, or someone you know, may be a victim of modern slavery, please contact police.’

You can contact The Samaritans helpline 24/7 on 116 123 for help and support. 

Source: Read Full Article