Saudi gets long sentence
Man was convicted of sexual assaults on housekeeper
Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News
Friday, September 1, 2006
CENTENNIAL - Sniffles and sobs resonated in a packed courtroom Thursday as a Saudi man convicted of sexually assaulting his Indonesian housekeeper was sentenced Thursday to 20 years to life in prison.
Homaidan Al-Turki, 37, was also ordered to serve eight additional years for theft charges.
He denied in Arapahoe County District Court that he enslaved the woman and said authorities targeted him because of his religion.
"Your honor, I am not here to apologize, for I cannot apologize for things I did not do and for crimes I did not commit," he told Judge Mark Hannen.
"The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors. Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution," he said.
Prosecutor Natalie Decker said the trial had nothing to do with Al-Turki's Muslim beliefs.
"It has to do with what he did to her for five years," she said outside the courtroom.
Al-Turki was convicted this summer of 12 felony counts of unlawful sexual contact with use of force, one felony count of criminal extortion and one felony count of theft. He also was found guilty of two misdemeanors: false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment.
The case has captured the attention of the Muslim community worldwide. The Saudi government gave Al-Turki the money he needed to post a $400,000 bond on the charges in Arapahoe County.
Prosecutors said Al-Turki brought the victim, who is now 24, from Saudi Arabia in 2000 to work as his family's nanny and housekeeper in their Aurora home. Al-Turki is married and has five children.
The victim testified in court that she worked seven days a week and was paid $150 a month. She said Al-Turki and his wife kept most of that money. Al-Turki also allegedly took the woman's passport and sexually abused her.
The Rocky Mountain News is withholding the nanny's name because she is a sexual assault victim. She now lives in Aurora.
"This is a clear-cut example of human trafficking," Decker said. "It's important he is put in prison."
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April 13, 2008
5:35 p.m.
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jackellisdd writes:
Good for the State of Colorado for prosecuting a modern day, human slave trafficker. If the evidence is true as presented and this Saudi man brought the 24 year old woman over supposedly to work for pay as a maid and instead was enslaved, sexually abused - then yeah, convict him and make him go to jail. America/the West - we have our own laws and our own customs, maybe some of our customs are not so good, but a lot of our laws and customs are good - we ban slavery. Rich men are not allowed to use their power to sexually abuse, rape poor women. So this Saudi guy's defense is that his behavior is the norm in many Muslim societies and we shouldn't try to judge Muslim customs/Muslim laws - maybe some PC idiots at the University of Colorado fall for the PC, Multi Cult defense of slavery, terrorism, but the rest of us Americans/Westerners are not having any of it.
Good job Colorado! I hope this slave master gets to acquire a taste for prison food and understand that his sex life is going to change a lot now that he is no longer the slave master.