A mechanic who drove his Pakistani bride to the brink of suicide by beating her repeatedly and treating her like a slave has been jailed for two years yesterday.
Safraz Ahmed, 34, subjected Sumara Iram to regular bouts of violence as he forced her into domestic servitude in punishing 19-hour working days.
He made her wash in the garden and convinced her she would be raped, beaten and even murdered if she left the house, in Charlton - only allowing her out to do his shopping and take his nephew to school.
Iram’s ordeal was only ended when she took an overdose of painkillers, and while recovering at her brother-in-law’s home she plucked up the courage to phone the police.
Ahmed was jailed at Woolwich crown court for two years, in the first domestic servitude prosecution in Britain involving a husband and wife.
Judge Christopher Hehir said Ahmed’s treatment had turned his wife from a “confident, well-educated and well-adjusted” into a woman who now feels “dehumanised”.
“She was bullied and controlled by you, given little money and expected to cook, clean and look after your family as if she was a skivvy”, he said.
“She described your behaviour as physical and mental torture and in my judgement she was right.”
Iram was just 18 when the couple wed in 2006 in an arranged marriage at her home in Gurjat, in the Punjab region of Pakistan.
She stay in her homeland until 2012 to complete a Masters degree in Islamic Studies before moving to the UK on a spouse visa.
However, after moving into Ahmed’s home which he shared with his mother, she was soon put to work cooking and cleaning under the threat of violence.   
She was forced to work on some days from 5am to midnight, her mobile phone was confiscated and she was often locked inside the house when Ahmed went out.
He refused to have sex with his wife to consummate the marriage, saying she was only there to make his parents happy, the court heard.
Prosecutor Caroline Haughey said this led to the first attack, when Ahmed “slapped her across the face and called her a shameless woman”.
“The marriage was not consummated”, she added. “In his words, he told her he had married her so she could look after his mother and his house.”
After two years, Iram finally made a bid for freedom in February 2014 after a vicious beating from Ahmed left her with a broken nose.
She ran into the street looking for help, and neighbours saw her being dragged back into the house.
Police were called but because of Iram’s poor English she struggle to lodge a formal complaint and her husband was released from custody.
She endured another six months under Ahmed’s reign before swallowing a handful of painkillers in an apparent suicide bid. The court heard previous that she now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and the ordeal has “ruined her life”.
Cathy Ryan, defending, said the marriage had been agreed in “good faith”, but Ahmed became frustrated by the situation he found himself in.
“Her expectations were that she would have a happy and contented life with her husband and that she would be loved”, she said.
“To many it may seem her expectations were unrealistic.”
Ahmed initially denied conspiracy to hold a person in domestic servitude, but changed plea to guilty at the start of last month. He also admitted two counts of assault occasioning ABH.