Immigration Solicitors

A couple from Perivale in west London are on trial for keeping a Nigerian man as a slave in their home for 24 years.

BBC News reports that Emmanuel Edet, 60 – an obstetrician and gynaecologist – and his wife Antan Edet, 58, a senior nurse, had met Ofonime Sunday Inuk as a 14-year-old in Nigeria.

They had brought him back to the UK with them in 1989, promising him he would be paid for his work in their home and would also receive an education.

However, it is alleged Mr Inuk was forced to clean, sleep on the floor and provide childcare – and was told that if he tried to run away he would be arrested as an illegal immigrant.

The couple confiscated his passport and had changed his surname so that it was the same as their own. It is also alleged he was forced to eat his meals alone.

The prosecution said the couple had “deprived the complainant of his identity, his rights to education and freedom of movement and the money he should have received”.
“His mother has died, he has no means of returning to Nigeria,” the court was told.
“He was entirely dependent on them and they deprived him of his adolescence, his education and his family life.
“They have treated him beneath contempt,” the prosecution said.

The court was also told that Mr Inuk had against his choice and desire allowed Mr Edet to “move him not only domestically but internationally at their convenience and whim”.

The court heard Mr Inuk had become so dependent on the couple that he had no choice but to remain living with them.
Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to holding a person in slavery and servitude and assisting unlawful immigration – as well as one count of cruelty to a person under the age of 16.
The trial continues.

Duncan Lewis Immigration Solicitors

Duncan Lewis immigration solicitors can advise migrants from non-EU countries on a wide range of immigration matters, including illegal entry to the UK, right to work in the UK and the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of Legal Aid solicitors also able to advise on:

• Asylum and asylum appeals
• British citizenship
• Fast-track detention process
• Human Rights Act
• Marriage in the UK
• Spouse visas
• Student visas
• Visa overstays.

For expert legal advice on UK Immigration law, call Duncan Lewis immigration solicitors on 020 7923 4020.