Woman held as slave for year

BERLIN – German police arrested three people yesterday suspected of sexually abusing a 20-year-old woman and holding her as a…

BERLIN – German police arrested three people yesterday suspected of sexually abusing a 20-year-old woman and holding her as a slave for the past year, the state prosecutor’s office in the town of Mosbach said.

The woman was held captive by a man, his wife and their son inside a house in the southwestern town of Hassmersheim, prosecutors said. They forced her to do household chores and she was sexually abused by the man, prosecutors said in a statement.

“During the entire time the woman was repeatedly abused, humiliated and threatened,” prosecutors said. “She was able to flee at a moment when her guard was inattentive through a window that was left open last weekend.” The suspects were taken into custody by a police commando because the man was believed to be armed. – (Reuters)