A NORTHWOOD optician has been convicted of a series of horrific attacks on an Indian woman who she treated like a slave.

The victim had been brought to the UK in 2005 on the promise of employment as a nanny and domestic worker and planned to send money to her husband and four children in Hyderabad.

Instead, her passport was taken and she was passed around a network of people who abused, sexually assaulted and beat her to the extent that she now uses a wheelchair.

Shashi Obhrai (pictured), 54, of Pembroke Road, Northwood, was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and making a threat to kill the 39-year-old woman, at Croydon Crown Court on Friday, April 19.

Following two spells at other London homes where she also endured brutal attacks, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sent to Obhrai in 2007.

Obhrai forced her to work from 6am to 11pm every day. She survived on the ‘spat out leftovers’ of Obhrai’s three children and regularly received beatings if she was too faint to cook.

Obhrai burned her with an iron, hit her over the head with a rolling pin and rained blows across her back with high heeled shoes.

She also threatened the woman with insulin needles, dug the teeth of a comb into her head and dragged her down the stairs by her hair.

On one occasion the woman ran away but was brought back to the house by Obhrai, who held a knife to her neck and threatened to kill her.

Eventually the victim managed to escape and the Met police’s trafficking and prostitution unit began a lengthy investigation.

Enkarta Balapovi, 54, a butcher from St John’s Wood, was convicted of five counts of rape, and Shamina Yousuf, 33, a secretary from Edgware, was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

After the convictions, the victim said: “They have made my life hell.

“I have suffered with depression and sleepless nights for a very long time.

“They have treated me so badly that I worry at night that they will come for me.

“These people are dangerous. They have ruined my life and kept me away from my children.”

The three defendants will be sentenced on Thursday, May 16 at Croydon Crown Court.