34-year-old Safraz Ahmed kept Pakistani Sumara Iram at his home in Charlton, London, subjecting her to vicious beatings and telling her she would be raped and murdered if she ran away.
She described how she was made to do chores day and night, and was treated like a servant.
Ahmed's conviction for conspiracy to hold a person in domestic servitude is the first of its kind in the UK, according to the Sunday Times.
The pair had an arranged marriage in Gujrat, in the Punjabi region of Paksitan, in 2006. Iram, who was just 18 at the time, said she grew concerned when car mechanic Ahmed refused to consummate the marriage.
Iram, who completed a master's in Islamic studies while in Pakistan, said: “We would text on birthdays or Eid but they were not romantic messages. It was an arranged marriage, not one of love but I would learn to love him.”
Ahmed brought her to the UK in 2012, and immediately subjected his wife to a life of servitude in the house he shared with his mother.
Iram said: “He explained to me that he brought me here to keep his family happy and if I thought he would love me I should forget it.”
"His sister would come with her children and I was made to carry luggage, serve drinks, cook, clean and change the babies' nappies," she added.
Ahmed enforced his will with brutal beatings and humiliation, forcing Iram to wash herself outside in the back garden.
Her mobile phone was confiscated, and she was only allowed to leave the house to buy groceries, lugging the heavy bags back home by herself.
Ahmed told Iram that she would be in danger if she ever tried to run away.
She said: "They would say black men, white men, would rape, kidnap or murder me."
The physical abuse culminated in February 2014, when the mechanic he broke Sumara's nose.
When Iram ran out onto the street she was dragged back into the house. She described how she feared for her life.
"When he hit me in the eye and nose I thought I was going to die. My mother-in-law was there standing by but said nothing," she said.
Neighbours who caught sight of her bloodied face called the police, but Iram, who soes not speak English, was unable to lodge a formal complaint.
It was not until she overdosed on painkillers in a suicide attempt that she was able to free herself.
Iram was taken to her brother-in-law's house after the overdose, where she plucked up the courage to call the police.
Cops freed the young bride, but she is now being treated for post traumatic stress disorder. She says the experience "ruined her life".
Ahmed, who originally pleaded not guilty, eventually entered a guilty plea at Woolwich Crown Court and will return for sentencing later this month.
SOURCE: THE SUN
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