Man kept as slave for 24 years contacted social services but was turned away, a jury hears

Ofonime Sunday Inuk was told that if he left the house and reported matters to the police he would be arrested as an illegal immigrant and sent back to Nigeria

Harrow Crown Court (Google)

A young man who was “owned” by a doctor and his wife as a slave for 24 years tried to contact police and social services about his condition – but was turned away, a jury heard.

Ofonime Sunday Inuk was about 14 years old in 1989 when he left his native Nigeria with Emmanuel and Antan Edet, travelling first to Israel before arriving in the UK.

He stayed at various addresses with their family where he cleaned and looked after the couple’s home and children, Harrow Crown Court was told. He had been introduced to the married couple, who worked in the NHS, through a family friend in Nigeria. Mr Edet was a trained obstetrician and gynaecologist and Ms Edet was a senior sister at a hospital.

The deal was that the youngster should be paid for his work and receive an education, but that never happened. Instead, he went unpaid, was not given a decent education and was left to sleep on the floor or in an outhouse, the prosecutor, Roger Smart, said. He was also stripped of his passport.

Mr Edet, 60, and his wife, 58, of Perivale, north-west London, have each pleaded not guilty to holding a person in slavery and servitude and assisting unlawful immigration. They deny a further count of cruelty to a person under the age of 16.

Mr Smart told the jury that Mr Inuk had become so dependent on the Edets that he felt he had no choice but to stay with them. He was told that if he left the house and reported matters to the police he would be arrested as an illegal immigrant and sent back to Nigeria.

Mr Inuk’s family contacted the Edets in 2004 after receiving a letter in which he described how he was being treated. Mr Inuk went to police at Greenford, west London, but they took no action.

Mr Inuk went to Ealing social services only to be told there was nothing they could do for him because he was an adult, Mr Smart said.

The Edets went to Nigeria in 2013 and Mr Inuk emailed a humanitarian campaign group about his plight. The police were then alerted. The Edets were arrested in March 2014.

The case continues.