A young Pakistani woman said Tuesday that she was beaten daily and treated like a slave by her new family after she flew to Britain following an arranged marriage, the Daily Mail newspaper reported Tuesday.
Sania Bibi, 20, told a U.K. jury that she was subject to abuse by her new husband Haroon Aktar and his entire family, working 17-hour days cooking, cleaning and washing their clothes, the Mail reported. She had never seen or met Aktar before the wedding, which took place in northern Punjab on April 1, 2006.
Aktar, 28, reportedly told the woman that he would get married a second time and she would have to take care of his other wife's children.
"She was regularly admonished for poor performance," prosecutor George Heimler told the jury. "Haroon told her he wanted to marry someone else. He punched her and slapped her and she lived in a climate of isolation and despondency."
Aktar denies the five charges of causing bodily harm to Bibi, the Mail reported.
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