UK slavery suit: Complainant misleading court, says counsel

Some drama took place on Tuesday at the ongoing trial of a Nigerian, Ofonime Sunday Inuk, accusing a couple of holding him in servitude for over 24 years in the United Kingdom .
At the resumption of the trial at Harrow Crown court, Mrs Edet’s lawyer, Emma Akuwudike, told the court that the 39-year-old, never knew how to cook when he became a member of their family.
Mrs Edet, according to her lawyer, not only did her cooking in bulk, she actually cooked Nigerian dishes for Inuk and other family members.
Akuwudike added that Inuk was given as much liberty as he wanted in the house and even had a room to himself at all their addresses, contrary to his claims.
Not only did he love watching sports, news and current affairs, he loved watching Oprah Winfrey and other talk shows. These, Mrs Edet’s lawyer said, were contrary to his claims to the police that he was not allowed to watch television, except the couple or their children were with him.
Inuk, the court was also told, enjoyed documentaries, especially on the royal family, such that it was he who told his adoptive mother, senior nursing sister, Mrs Edet, 58, much about the royal family.
Inuk also claimed the Edets made him wash clothes with his bare hands, instead of using washing machine, despite the family living in furnished doctors’ apartments at some of their addresses.
Continuing with her cross examining throughout the morning session, Akuwudike — and sometimes, the judge — asked Inuk a series of questions, but some of his answers contradicted what he had told the police in written statements.
Asked why he threw away some of his pages of the ‘diary’ that detailed the maltreatment he suffered, Inuk said it was to move away from that era. Also told that contrary to his claims of being made to work all day, it was Mrs Edet who did the bulk of the cooking and even taught him to cook, he countered that he knew how to boil rice.
When Judge Arran asked, “How often did you keep a diary?” Inuk went quiet. When the lawyer took over and asked the 39-year-old for an explanation of the big gaps in years between the diary entries he made. He replied, “I just threw them away.”
The trial continues at courtroom 1 all week. A Nigeria-based witness, Christopher Ekong, 42, is to resume giving evidence today. Before the court rose on Tuesday, Ekong told the trial that Inuk complained about suffering too much, when he and another guest visited him in the Edets house in 2004.