Teresa Abu is a Muslim name.
A Government civil servant and her husband kept an African woman at their home in ‘servitude’ with ‘little or no basic freedom’, a judge has concluded.
Rashida Ajayi said she had been a domestic worker at the home of Teresa Abu and husband Joel for a decade.
She said she pocketed just £300 a year for her work and complained of being a victim of ‘labour exploitation’.
Mrs Abu, a civil servant involved in policy support at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and her husband disputed Ms Ajayi’s claims.‘The overall picture I have from the evidence is that Ms Ajayi was kept in economic servitude,’ said Master McCloud in a written ruling.
‘Her circumstances in the Abu household were oppressive servitude.’
She said they ‘fell short of the standards which the law of the land requires as a basic minimum for the dignity of the worker and their remuneration’.
Ms Ajayi said she had been a ‘domestic worker’ at the Abus’ home between 2005 and 2015 after being brought from Nigeria.
She said she had been subjected to ‘minimally paid domestic servitude’ and had ‘little or no personal freedom’.
