The Harrow Crown Court in
northwest London, has convicted a British couple who were found guilty of
keeping a Nigerian immigrant enslaved for more than two decades.
Damaris Lakin, the Crown
Prosecution Service, said on Wednesday in London that Emanuel Edet, 61, and
Antan Edet, 58, held their victim captive from the time he was brought to
Britain when he was 14 years old.
The prosecutors said the
couple was convicted on charges of child cruelty, slavery and assisting in
illegal immigration.
He said the couple forced
him to work for no pay and threatened him with deportation if he tried to
escape.
Mr. Lakin said the Edets
had told the teen when they brought him from Nigeria in 1989 that they would
pay him and provide him with an education.
The prosecutors said
instead, the victim, now 40, was forced to cook, clean, garden and care for the
couple’s children without any pay for up to 17 hours a day.
“He got no education and
had only very limited contact with his family and the outside world.
“The couple took his
passport, and he had no identity documents, and is forced to eat alone and
typically slept on hallway floors,’’ the prosecutors said.
Mr. Lakin said the Edets
told their captive he would be arrested as an illegal immigrant and deported if
he left the house and contacted police.
“He believed this and felt
trapped and completely dependent on the Edets.Lakin said Emanuel and
Antan Edet cruelly robbed the victim of 24 years of his life and they treated
him with complete contempt.
“This was a shocking case
of modern day slavery.
The prosecutor said the
Edets changed the victim’s name and added him to their family passport as their
son when they brought him into Britain.
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