Wealthy landlady faces jail time for enslaving 60-year-old vulnerable woman

A wealthy landlady faces jail after being convicted of enslaving a woman who she beat, kicked and verbally abused while she cooked, cleaned and cared for her family.

For years, Jacqueline Whittington, 60, was forced to act as a housekeeper for Farzana Kausar, 58, who, according to Lewes Crown Court, controlled almost everything she did.

Ms Whittington was forced to do household chores and care for three young children, but received no money.

Kausar had even kept Ms Whittington’s benefit money “vulnerable,” the court heard earlier.

The landlady, who owned several expensive properties in Brighton and London, became increasingly controlling and abusive, often flying in a string.

Kausar broke Mrs. Whittington’s ankle slamming a car door.

She is also said to have attacked the mother of four when she slammed her glasses in her face, ripped her face and tore off her necklace.

The property owner once burst into a doctor’s office while Mrs Whittington was busy with an appointment.

Kausar, who is accused of holding another woman in slavery or servitude, was found guilty yesterday afternoon.

She was also found guilty of disrupting justice after a nearly three-week trial at Lewes Crown Court.

The family’s nanny, Michelle Ormiston, was hired by Kausar’s family.

She witnessed the ‘shocking’ treatment of the live-in helper before alerting both social services and the police.

On September 26, Farzana Kausar of Hove, East Sussex appeared before Lewes Crown Court charged with keeping a person in slavery or servitude between August 2015 and May 2019.

She was also charged with attempting to distort public justice by getting Ms Whittington to drop her charges.

The jury had previously heard that Ms Whittington was frail and a long-term alcoholic.

She had left her husband and four children in the 1990s and first met the defendant when she rented a flat from the family.

She started out doing decoration work for Kausar’s family but eventually moved in as a live-in housekeeper and did household chores while living at various addresses in London and Brighton.

The court ruled that Ms Whittington had no contract of employment and although Kausar promised to pay her for her work, the mother of four children never received wages.

Ms Whittington’s benefits were also taken, although she regularly bought cigarettes and alcohol.

Ryan Richter, prosecutor, said in an earlier hearing: “Mrs. Kausar confiscated her benefit booklet and denied her access to get money.

“Mrs. Kausar promised to pay her for the work, but didn’t pay.

“She got her benefit booklet to sign, but she never gave her the money.”

He said the alleged victim suffered “control, violence and verbal abuse” for many years.

He said the violence started when Ms Kausar threw a recycling box at her for leaving some cooked meat in the kitchen.

When the family went on vacation abroad, Mrs. Whittington traveled with them to act as a housekeeper.

She told the police that Kausar was doing her best to isolate her from all contacts or friends and that she was more and more controlling.

Although her children always came to see her, when she went to London they couldn’t because they didn’t know where she was.

Ms Whittington told police that she did have a cell phone, but it was often confiscated by the defendant.

And when her mother died, she only found out weeks before that the funeral had already taken place.

Mr. Richter told the court, “Mrs. Kausar would tell her she wouldn’t last a minute if she went alone and told her, ‘At least you have a roof over your head with me.’

Kausar was arrested by the police in 2019 in the family’s luxury flat in Hove.

She is now in custody pending sentencing on November 10.