A woman held prisoner in a radical Maoist collective was sent back home by police after her first escape attempt in 22 years, a court has heard.
The woman fled to Streatham police station in 2005 after years of violence and mental subjugation but staff persuaded her to call her father to pick her up, Southwark Crown Court heard.
She was taken home, slapped for being a traitor, described as a police agent and told that she would only be able to get a job as a prostitute if she were to leave the house, said Rosina Cottage QC, for the prosecution.
The woman – who cannot be named – remained in the collective for another eight years before she finally left, the court heard.
Details of the episode emerged on the second day of the trial of her father, Aravindan Balakrishnan known as Comrade Bala, who is accused of using mental and physical violence to bring members of the female-only communist collective under his control.
He is accused of raping and indecently assaulting two women. He is also accused of child cruelty and false imprisonment in the case of his daughter.
She was never allowed to leave the house unaccompanied, did not play with other children and never went to school or see a doctor, the court has heard. The 75-year-old, of Latymer Road, Enfield, denies all the charges.
The court heard that Mr Balakrishnan’s daughter packed a bag in May 2005 when the collective was living in Streatham and intended never to return, the court heard.
“She was fed up of being a “non-person” and so just ran away,” said Ms Cottage. She was scared, as she had never before been out on her own, the court heard. She told a passer-by that she had run away from home and was directed to a police station.
She spoke to a woman called Donna at the police station, telling her only that she was running away because of the oppression, said Ms Cottage, but did not detail the violence.
“Donna did not know what to do,” said Ms Cottage. “It was a Bank Holiday and there was nowhere for her to go."
She "was persuaded to call the defendant as she was told that otherwise she would be reported as a missing person.”
Comrade Bala and another member of the collective came to collect her “with promises that things would improve. She thought as the police were involved, they would listen,” the court heard.
The case continues.
