Doctor couple ‘asked their nanny to sell them one of her kidneys for £25,000’
A nanny brought to the UK to work for a doctor couple was treated like a servant, locked up with no food for days and even asked to sell her kidney, an employment tribunal heard.
Egyptian Asmaa Hemdan also had her passport taken away, the hearing was told.
Consultant neurologist Dr Hussien El-Maghraby, 52, and his gynaecology specialist wife Dr Safaa Ismail, 50, allegedly claimed they could pay someone to kill Miss Hemdan, and made veiled threats to sell her.
The married couple, who also come from Egypt, are said to have paid Miss Hemdan just £400 over five months and called her ‘ignorant’, ‘disgusting’ and ‘a dog’. Miss Hemdan said that at one point Dr Safaa offered to give the nanny £25,000 if she handed over one of her kidneys.
Watford Employment Tribunal heard Miss Hemdan was flown to Britain in May 2011 to work as a nanny to the couple’s four-year-old son.
The 37-year-old was promised £200 per month and lodgings at their home in Muswell Hill, north London. However, the payments stopped after two months and Miss Hemdan, who worked to support her family in Egypt, was forced to hand over her bank card.
When Miss Hemdan complained about the alleged conditions, Dr Safaa became ‘furious’.
The hearing heard that Miss Hemdan was then locked in one of the bedrooms and told she could not come out until she apologised.
Miss Hemdan told the tribunal: ‘I was in my room for two days and no one brought me any food or water.
‘I was too frightened to leave the room as I was scared of Dr Safaa. I was able to drink water from the sink in the bathroom.’
She added: ‘I was treated as a servant and often told that I was a servant.’ The nanny told the tribunal that Dr Safaa was responsible for much of the treatment. The doctor allegedly once told Miss Hemdan that she had previously had other women working for her and that ‘if they didn’t like things then she sold them on’.
Miss Hemdan said: ‘I was shocked when she said this.
‘I remember I said “sold them?” because I was so shocked, and Dr Safaa said “yes, if you sell the passport the girl follows it like a dog”.’
Miss Hemdan claimed that on one occasion when she visited a bank with Dr Safaa, she was asked if she would be willing to sell her kidney to the bank manager.
‘Dr Safaa told me that she was talking to the bank manager about her illness as she had a kidney problem,’ Miss Hemdan said.
‘As we were leaving, Dr Safaa said to me that some people sell a kidney to another person who needs one.
‘I did not know what to say. Dr Safaa waited a moment and then asked me what did I think about that? I answered that if someone would do it, it would be a human and good thing to do. ‘Dr Safaa replied: “Are you willing?” ‘I said no, that I was talking in general, not about my own kidney.
‘Dr Safaa said that she could get me £25,000 if I agreed to give “us” my kidney. I believe that when she said “us” she meant her and the bank manager.
‘I said no, I could not possibly do this. I said that we do not own our kidneys, they are given to us by Allah.’
Miss Hemdan said she ran away five months into the job before contacting her family in Egypt, who said they had been threatened.
‘Dr Safaa had called my brother and told him that they could give someone £10,000 to have me killed,’ Miss Hemdan said.
Although the nanny was given an en-suite room in the family’s loft, she said she was forced to sleep on the sofa if Dr Safaa was upset with her.
She was also banned from using any bathroom other than her own, saying: ‘Dr Safaa told me that she did not know where I had come from and what germs and microbes I might have.’
Her access to food was ‘restricted’ and she would be given leftovers, she claimed, adding: ‘Dr Safaa gave me a spoon, plate, bowl and glass and told me that they were mine and that I was to use them and nothing else. Dr Safaa said she was disgusted by me.’ Both doctors deny all of the claims and say Miss Hemdan had full access to food and living facilities, and that she was paid in full before she left with ‘no explanation’.
The couple stood trial for trafficking, false imprisonment and holding Miss Hemdan in servitude. They were formally cleared by a judge after two juries could not agree on a verdict.
Miss Hemdan is now claiming failure to provide written terms and conditions, race discrimination, failure to pay wages and failure to allow or pay her holiday leave. The tribunal was reserved for judgement at a later date.