More details have been released about the alleged “slavery” case in Brixton since the Brixton Blog first reported on it five days ago. Here we report on what we know about the strange and shocking case so far.
Thursday November 21: A man and woman were arrested by police in Lambeth, suspected of holding three women in captivity for as much as thirty years. The women victims, a 69-year-old Malaysian woman, a 57-year-old Irish woman and a 30-year-old British woman, had been rescued from the house after sensitive negotiations conducted by the Freedom charity. The charity has ensured they are now in a place of safety receiving proper care.
Friday November 22: The suspects were released on bail but did not return to the home where they were arrested. A joint statement from Lambeth Council and the Met Police said: “We do not believe that this case falls into the category of sexual exploitation, or what we all understand as human trafficking…Trying to label this investigation as domestic servitude or forced labour is far too simple. What we have uncovered so far is a complicated and disturbing picture of emotional control over many years, brainwashing would be the most simplest term, yet that belittles the years of emotional abuse these victims have had to endure.”
“We believe at this stage to the outside world this may have appeared to be a ‘normal’ family. This does mean that over the course of many decades the people at the heart of this investigation and their victims will probably have come into contact with public services, including our own, that is something we must examine fully, and it is too early to provide details.
Saturday November 23: Peckford Place in Brixton was revealed as the centre of investigations into the alleged ‘slavery’ case. Police were stationed outside the building as the nation’s media descended upon the estate.
Monday November 25: The suspects were announced as Aravindan Balakrishnan, 73, and his wife Chanda Balakrishnan, 67. It was revealed that the pair were former Maoist activists, leading figures at the Mao Zedeong Memorial Centre in Acre Lane, Brixton, in the 1970s.
Cults are precisely that if these individuals gave up their freedom to be part of a maoist sect I don’t see how it is much different from say someone joining the Scientologists. I suspect this will end up being a non story.