A lawyer, by the name of Lara Hall, who jetted off to Pakistan to stumble upon a Muslim man who groomed her on social media, was imprisoned, tortured, beaten and raped. Now, she has shared her unpleasant experience, in what is a life long lesson for girls.
Lara Hall, 30-year-old confessed that she flew to Lahore, a city in Pakistan, on the promise of luxurious life in his lavish villa after her affair with “the man of her dreams” became a bit more serious.
But when she arrived she was confronted with a disgustingly dirty house which was untidily scattered with litter and which didn’t really look like the pictures of the Spanish inspired villa she was shown on Facebook. From that second onwards, her horrific experience began as Sajjad kept her prisoner, reports Daily Mail Australia.
The torture then started for Laura as she was forced to lie on her back with her legs open to “air out” her vagina. She said: “Sajjad raped me and his brother attempted to rape me on multiple occasions. “I was a kept woman, I was denied feminine hygiene products and had to bleed freely, I was starved over long periods of time — on one occasion up to 14 hours.”
Forced Marriage experience
Sajjad took an extreme step by forcing her to marry him and convert her to Islam but she quickly denied his demands. In a very serious bid for freedom, she contacted the Australian consulate and High Commission but claims that she was turned down by their response.
She was first informed that she should go for safety and call the police, but she told the Daily Mail Australia that she was too frightened to go to the authorities because of the fact that she had overstayed her 30-day visa.
So instead, she texted Dr Kaiser Rafiq, chief executive of the AFOHS club, a members-only club for armed forces officers including diplomats on Facebook. “Sajjad raped me and his brother attempted to rape me on multiple occasions,” she said.
Finally, she had the guts to alert the police after she protected herself in a bedroom. Luckily, they escorted her to a nearby station and she was put into Dr Rafiq’s care. After staying with him for 2 weeks, she moved to stay with another friend whom she had also met online named Rafi.
It has been learnt that she flew with her friend to Islamabad to the Ministry of Interior. Despite her bad experience, she was threatened with prison for overstaying her visa, but fortunately relieved with a fine and was told to leave the country immediately.
She had no option left but to get help from the Australia embassy as she had no money to return home, but she was in the heat of the scrap as she met official rules and processes which was unnecessary and indeed delayed results.
Bad Social media experience
Her unpleasant times started when she unfriended a woman identified as Rhianna, who was originally from Pakistan, on a train in 2013.
The pair became strong friends when Lara taught her English resulting in a grand welcome into Rhianna’s family.
On one evening during a Skype call to Rhianna’s family, Lara was introduced to Sajjad, a relative. They slowly started following each other on Facebook and then became friends and went on to maintain that friendly relationship for a few years.
Sajjad’s touching attitude, affection and caring messages helped Sara forget all the childhood troubles and mental health issues.
Sajjad told her that he could offer her a “luxurious amazing happy life” if she was to be with him for the rest of her life. Desperately in need of shelter from her unsettled life in Sydney, Australia, Lara confessed that she was “seduced” by his offers and promises.
She told Daily Mail Australia: “He said he had five houses, he showed a purchase contract for a Spanish house he said we could live in and that I could decorate however I wanted – he even sent me pictures of the house.
“I was seduced by the promise of this amazing life with him. He would always say ‘I’ll fill all your blank spaces’. And I’d known his family here for a long time.”
To make sure that Lara was convinced that he was a trusted guy, Sajjad contacted Lara’s twin sister, Amy, who was excited that Lara had finally found someone so loving.
“He said he had five houses, he showed a purchase contract for a Spanish house he said we could live in,” said Lara. After years of texting online, Sajjad invited Lara for his brother’s wedding in Pakistan which she had no reason to doubt him at all.