A COUPLE smuggled a 13-year-old girl into Britain to work as a household "slave", a court heard yesterday.
During her ordeal, accountant Samuel Quainoo, 59, and his wife, Ernestina, a 37-year-old teacher, denied the girl both schooling and friends, it was claimed.
Instead, the youngster, who they pretended was theirs, had to cook, clean and do the was
hing for their real child while they worked. She was never paid a penny.
London's Isleworth Crown Court heard her ordeal only ended when she fell ill in May 2006 and fled the house to seek treatment. She ended up at Hillingdon social services and told them of her plight.
The couple, of West Drayton, west London, were arrested and subsequently pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking, but deny any "slave" claims.
Ian McLoughlin told the court his client, Ernestina, not only maintained the girl had been unofficially adopted in Ghana, but had been "treated as a daughter of the family" and it was her decision not to attend school.
Judge Jonathan Lowen said as the youngster clearly felt she had been "mistreated", there was no option but to adjourn the case until next month for another hearing to "test the credibility of her account". The girl is now 17 and applying for asylum.
The full article contains 222 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
