A Brighton and Hove property owner charged with keeping another woman in slavery or servitude has been convicted by a jury this afternoon (Thursday 13 October).
Farzana Kausar, 58, was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice after a trial lasting almost three weeks at Lewes Crown Court.
The jury of six men and six women returned a unanimous verdict on both counts.
Judge Christine Laing, the honorary recorder of Brighton and Hove, remanded Kausar in custody to await sentence on Thursday 10 November.
As she thanked the jury, Judge Laing said that perverting the course of justice was an attack on the criminal justice system rather than allowing a case to take its proper course.
Ryan Richter, prosecuting, said: “The defendant has known Jacqueline Whittington since the early 1990s.
“Ms Whittington is now 60 years old and has struggled with alcoholism throughout her adult life.
“In the 1990s she split from her own family and came to end up living in a room which she rented from Mrs Kausar’s family.
“Over the years, Mrs Kausar began to control more and more aspects of Ms Whittington’s life.
“She gradually isolated her and abused her in such a way that Ms Whittington became dependent upon Mrs Kausar.
“Although physically ‘free’, it is the prosecution case that Ms Whittington, as a vulnerable adult, was controlled by Mrs Kausar and made to work as an unpaid domestic servant, cooking and cleaning for the family and caring for her children.
“It is the prosecution case that the work was accompanied by abuse – physical, mental and financial.
“Ms Whittington was abused verbally, slapped, pinched and punched and had limited access to her bank accounts with her benefit money, totalling around £80,000 over the years, being taken from her.
“In May 2019, Ms Whittington’s situation was reported to the police by another worker who came to work for the family – Michelle Ormiston.
“Ms Whittington was removed by the police from living with Mrs Kausar’s family and Mrs Kausar was arrested.
“She was formally interviewed by the police and denied the allegation that she was keeping Mrs Kausar in modern-day slavery.
“After being interviewed, she was released while the investigation continued.
“Mrs Kausar then set out to pervert the course of justice, trying to get Ms Whittington to drop the charges and seeking to cast blame on others for the allegations which she had made.
“In the October of 2019, Mrs Kausar met up with Ms Whittington in a public house in Brighton. She dictated a letter which she got Ms Whittington to write out.
“The letter asked for the charges against Mrs Kausar to be withdrawn and said that the whole account of servitude was deliberately made up by Ms Ormiston acting together with Mrs Kausar’s sister Shabnum.
“Mrs Kausar denies keeping Ms Whittington in slavery or servitude at any time. She denies that she was ever violent to her or controlled her or exploited her financially.
“Instead, Mrs Kausar describes Ms Whittington as a close family friend that she sought to support over many years.
“She denies that she ever sought to have Ms Whittington drop the charges or influence her to withdraw her support in any way.”
After the jury returned its verdict, Kausar was remanded in custody and told to expect a prison sentence.
