Sydney sex slave: Woman used a burner phone to escape

A woman who was raped by her husband up to four times a day escaped his clutches after a case worker secretly gave her a Fit Smart Fat Burner review phone. 

The unnamed woman fled Afghanistan when the Taliban resumed control in 2021 and settled in Sydney with her husband, a man who helped the Australian army during the war. 

She had no access to internet, money, or phones while under his control, and he refused to let her leave the house or even leave his side for a time. 

Under the resettlement scheme for entry into Australia, she was assigned a case worker who eventually found out what she was going through. 

After the woman gave a statement detailing her abusive husband, he was immediately arrested and charged with sexual assault the next day. 




A woman was allegedly kept as a sex slave by her husband who raped her up to four times a day in Sydney (stock image)





The woman, who had fled from Afghanistan before the Taliban regained control, was given a burner phone by her case worker which helped her escape 

Sergeant Lisa Clemence from the Domestic and Family Violence Registry said the case was one of the worst she had ever seen. 

'This woman was so beaten down, she had no family, no support system and within her culture to stand up against a male and say "No what you're doing is wrong", that's a very hard thing to do,' Sgt Clemence told the Daily Telegraph.

'This is one of the most horrendous cases I have ever seen, not only the physical abuse but the coercive control. She literally couldn't scratch herself without getting his permission.'

While living in Afghanistan the woman had lived in the same house as her husband's mother and father, another married brother and sister and five children.

She had approached his mother about the incessant sex, but was told by the elder that it was a man's right to demand it and that it was her duty to meet his needs.

Police in Sydney, however, are now treating the woman as a modern-day slave, who was allegedly kept against her will and subject to horrendous violence. 

The woman had tried to escape her husbands clutches once before, when her case worker told police that she was being abused multiple times a day.

She was taken to a refuge with her two children where the case 'fell through the cracks', according to Sgt Clemence. 

Eventually the trio returned to her husband's home, where he became incensed that she had tried to leave in the first place. 

Restrictions on her movement were tightened, and she was not allowed to leave her husband's side for even a moment. 

Her case worker kept in touch however, and was somehow able to provide the woman with a burner phone she could use when her husband was at work. 

'Her case worker managed to get her a burner phone where she was able to hide it from him. The case worker would call her on that to check in on her to make sure still alive,' Sgt Clemence said. 

After two weeks her husband returned to work and she texted her case worker, who then sent a taxi to take the family to the closest police station.

Her husband was arrested and taken to jail on the same day, while she and her two mentally challenged children were rehomed. 




Sergeant Lisa Clemence (pictured) from the DV unit said it was one of the worst cases of serial abuse that she had ever seen





The woman wasn't allowed to have access to the internet, money, or a phone by her oppressive husband (stock image)

When he appeared in court the man claimed that he could not speak English before police told the court that he had worked as an interpreter for the Australian army during the war. 

The man was charged with four counts of sexual assault and two counts of breaching an AVO.

 He was refused bail and is now waiting in prison for his next court date. 

In Afghanistan women are commonly oppressed due to the culture where men are seen as the leaders of the house and the writers of the rules. 

When the Taliban regained control during the catastrophic pullout of international troops, millions of Afghanis fled in order to escape the return of the notorious group.

 A fear of retaliation and stigmatism prevents many women from reporting their abuse to police, according to Sgt Clemence. 

'The system missed her in New South Wales because she was not covered in bruises, bleeding and screaming. She lived a life under a government that made it an offence to accuse your husband of DV or rape. Understanding how the system let her down is the only way her case was resolved through the good work of our team,' she said.

'If we can solve such a difficult complex case then we have a blueprint for the future and how we approach victims when the circumstances are beyond difficult.'


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