By: Shajil Kumar
An Asian-origin millionaire woman in West Sussex was jailed and made to pay over £200,000 for keeping a vulnerable woman in domestic servitude for 16 years, Sky News reports.
The landlady, Farzana Kausar, forced the woman to work unpaid in her home in Worthing, making her cook, clean and look after her children.
She also subjected her to physical and psychological abuse.
Kausar took control of the victim’s passport and finances. She would withdraw money from bank accounts that she had opened in the victim’s name.
Kausar was arrested by Sussex Police on suspicion of Modern Slavery offences in May 2019.
She tried to scuttle the course of justice by forcing the victim to write a letter to the police seeking to withdraw the charges.
In 2022, Kausar was jailed for six years and eight months after she was found guilty of holding a person in slavery or servitude and for perverting the course of justice.
The Crown Prosecution Service later took Kausar to court so that a confiscation order could be issued against her under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The act forces criminals to hand over available money and assets up to the total amount they benefited from through their crimes.
On October 13, 2023, Kausar was ordered to pay back a total of more than £205,000 or face an additional 30-month prison sentence.
Kausar had to sell a property to cover the amount that she has now paid in full, out of which the victim got £198,776.
