A suburban Texas couple was sentenced to prison for forcing a young African girl whom they referred to as a “dog” to work for them for 16 years as a domestic slave.
Mohamed Touré and Denise Cros-Touré, both 58, were ordered Monday in Fort Worth to serve seven years each in prison and pay nearly $300,000 in restitution, the Department of Justice announced.
The Southlake couple arranged for the girl — who didn’t speak English — to travel from her rural Republic of Guinea village to their home, where she worked for them without pay or educational opportunities, prosecutors said.
For more than a decade, the young girl was required to clean, cook, mow the lawn and take care of the couple’s five children, prosecutors said.
Officials said the Tourés often referred to the girl as a “slave,” “idiot” and “dog.” They also neglected and physically abused the child, including several occasions when the wife choked her, according to officials.
With the help of neighbors, the girl was able to escape and alert authorities in August 2016.
Mohamed and his wife were then convicted in January of forced labor, conspiracy to harbor an alien and alien harboring.
“I hope that today’s sentence brings some measure of justice and healing to the victim, who suffered untold trauma as a result of the defendants’ heinous crimes,” Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband said in a news release. “The defendants stole her childhood and her labor for years, enriching themselves while leaving her with pain and an uncertain future.”
An attorney for the couple said they are exploring an appeal of the conviction.
With Post wires