Mother jailed for keeping slave

12 April 2012

A mother of six has been jailed for seven years for turning her sister-in-law into a domestic slave.

Antonia Pearson-Gaballonie, 35, kept Veronica Sandeman, now 26, as a slave, assaulted her, forced her to work naked and made her beg for food over a number of years, York Crown Court heard.

Pearson-Gaballonie, of New Lane, Acomb, York, was sentenced to a total of seven years after being found guilty earlier of false imprisonment, making threats to kill and six counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm following a week-long trial.

Her partner Neil Pearson, 35, whom she married in June 2004, was jailed for two years after being found guilty of one count of aiding and abetting an assault.

The Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, told Pearson-Gaballonie she was a "manipulative and cunning" individual who committed "callous and brutal" attacks on her sister-in-law in a period of systematic abuse, much of which was carried out while the victim was falsely imprisoned and forced to work naked under the gaze of Pearson.

The judge also said she had gone to great lengths to avoid the trial, including making an attempt on her life, and even initially refused to enter the dock for the sentencing hearing on Monday.

Sentencing her partner Pearson, the judge told him: "A thousand pities to see you in the dock because you are so well spoken-of and written-about.

"In my judgment, you allowed yourself to be affected and overborne by your partner or wife, who is a woman capable of domineering others.

"The fact is you did take part in a very serious and sustained assault by her upon this vulnerable girl and you held her wrists so she was powerless against you in a very unpleasant and prolonged attack."

Pearson, who wore an open-neck blue shirt in the dock closed his eyes and remained silent as he was sent down.

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