Abused young woman tells court of new life after 'cellar ordeal' A profoundly deaf and mute woman told a court how she was kept in a cellar and made to sleep on the floor during almost 10 years as a virtual slave. The orphaned youngster from Pakistan, now aged between 19 and 21, claims she was locked in a cellar each night and forced to cook and clean for the Ashar family and their friends for no pay, Minshull Street crown court in Manchester was told. Ilyas Ashar, 83, and his wife, Tallat, 66, deny false imprisonment, human trafficking, sexual offences, violence and benefit fraud. They are accused of abusing the woman at their home in Salford, after bringing her from Pakistan in June 2000. The trial, now in its third week, has heard claims that the victim was beaten, repeatedly raped by Ilyas Ashar, and kept to work for the family - never having gone to school and taught only to sign her name for the purposes of a benefits scam. On Monday, she gave evidence for the first time via a video-link to the courtroom, signing her answers to questions.She said she had "no friends" when living with the Ashar family and was not allowed to go to college. Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, asked her about her life now. Her reply, through the translator, was: "Love going out for walk in the fresh air. Love going to the fair and enjoy lots of different things. Also enjoy going to the college by myself on the bus. The third thing I love to do is going out, going around but having nothing to do with men. Sexually having nothing to do with men. The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is thought to have been between 10 and 12 when she came to the UK. Shown photos of the cellar, she pointed out a camp-bed where she said she slept and a radiator she used to keep warm. She told the jury she would at times also sleep on a settee in the cellar, but for some time she was ordered to sleep on a sheet on the concrete floor instead. "Really really hard," she said. It hurt my back, sleeping on the floor is hard. The bones in my back were very sore. Cadwallader asked why she slept on the floor beside the settee. "The old woman (Mrs Ashar)," she replied through the sign-language interpreter. She was told to sleep on the floor, she had to sleep on the floor and that's what I did. She was made to cook, clean, wash and iron for the Ashars and clean the houses and cars of their family and friends, the court has heard. She also says she was made to work for hours in the cellar packing football shirts and clothes and mobile phone covers. The Ashars deny human trafficking into the UK for exploitation and false imprisonment. Ilyas Ashar also denies 12 counts of rape, Tallat Ashar denies one count of sexual assault and unlawful wounding and the pair both, along with their daughter Faaiza, 44, deny benefit fraud. The woman will be cross-examined by defence lawyers on Tuesday.