Dr. Ayodeji Adewakun, 44, and Abimbola Adewakun, 48, are alleged to have paid babysitter Iyabo Olatunji, just £20 a week for looking after their two young children at home in Erith, south east London.
Ms. Olatunji, 37, told Southwark Crown Court on Monday, May 8th, that she was also made to work long arduous days cleaning their house before staying late and cooking the couple dinner. She claims that when she asked for higher wages and was slapped by the couple.
The couple allegedly persuaded Iyambo Olatunji to leave her home in Nigeria to look after their two young children at their three-bedroom home in Erith, southeast London, in 2004. Ms. Olatunji, who had worked as a secretary for the local government in Nigeria, was forced to work 18-hour shifts cleaning the house and to share a bed with the youngest child. She also worked for Mr. Adewakun’s pastor father as a househelp in the 1990s.
Ms Olatunji, who did not have her own bank account, was originally promised a £450 monthly salary over a 15-month period, jurors heard.She told the court Ayodeji, or ‘Aunty Ayo’, ‘said she would look after me’.
The Kent-based doctor promised her new childminder £450 per month in a contract signed by the couple and Ms. Olatunji which also set out a range of terms and conditions of her employment which began when she arrived in February 2004.
“She is not a good au pair.” he said.
“I am not sleeping at 8pm or 9pm – it is midnight,”said Ms Olatunji.