Posted on 09/15/2005 7:01:16 AM PDT by Millee
ARAPAHOE COUNTY - Defense attorneys for a Saudi Arabian man accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing a young Indonesian woman who worked as his nanny said Wednesday she was never forced to stay.
John Richilano, lawyer for Homaidan Al-Turki, 36, said the woman could have escaped through a basement door at either of the two homes in Aurora where she worked for Al-Turki. Richilano spoke on the second day of a two-day preliminary hearing in Arapahoe County District Court that concluded Wednesday. District Judge Marylin Leonard found sufficient evidence to bind Al-Turki over for trial on both kidnapping and sexual assault charges. He also faces federal kidnapping charges.
Richilano said the nanny, who is Muslim, chose as part of her employment contract with the Al-Turki family to abide by Muslim customs that discourage women from venturing out in public by themselves.
The woman's name is not being used because the Rocky Mountain News protects the identities of possible sexual assault victims. The woman testified earlier that she didn't leave because Al-Turki was in possession of her passport, which had expired. She feared she would be arrested if she left, she said.
Al-Turki, a graduate student in linguistics at the University of Colorado, brought his wife, five children and the nanny to Colorado in 2000.
The woman said Al-Turki regularly came down to the basement where she slept and sexually abused her. She also said the couple withheld her pay.
Leonard said for someone living illegally in a country with which she had no familiarity and no valid papers, simply escaping Al-Turki's home was not an option. "She had no idea what would await her out of that door," Leonard said.
Both Al-Turki and his wife, Sarah Khonaizan, 36, face federal charges of forced labor, document servitude and harboring an illegal immigrant. They are accused of underpaying the woman for her services.
Al-Turki and his wife are scheduled to be arraigned in November, but lawyers have said that Khonaizan may be working on a plea deal with the prosecution. Richilano said Al-Turki would plead not guilty.
The couple is free on bail.
Actually, he's not doing his client any favors.
Defense attorneys for a Saudi Arabian man accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing a young Indonesian woman who worked as his nanny...
The guy is 36 years old and he needs a nanny? What a weirdo. Everyone I've known that had a nanny hired her to take care of the kids.
Owl_Eagle
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
Because it happened, it was the will of allah. Uuuuuaaaakkkkkk barf.
"...said the woman could have escaped through a basement door at either of the two homes in Aurora where she worked for Al-Turki"
Why couldn't she leave through the front door if she was not being held against her will?
I think you have a point there, but luckily your hair covers it!
First - ...accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing a young Indonesian woman
Second...They are accused of underpaying the woman for her services.
Hmmmmm?
Sounds like they should be able to persue Sexual Harassment charges too. Where is NOW?
I have a friend in Houston who claims that Houston policemen used to be assigned to detail outside Saudi diplomats' apartments in order to transport beaten up and even killed Saudi women to the emergency room.
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