A United States federal jury in Texas has
convicted a Nigerian-born couple based in
Arlington, Texas, Emmanuel and Ngozi
Nnaji, of forcing a widowed Nigerian
mother of six into servitude for nine years.
The US Justice Department said in a
statement on Wednesday that a jury found
the defendants guilty of conspiracy, forced
labour, document servitude, alien
harbouring and false statements. Ngozi and
Emmanuel Nnaji each face a maximum
sentence of up to 55 years in prison.
According to the evidence at trial, the
couple enticed the widow to come to the
US to be their domestic servant by falsely
promising a salary and support for her
children, whom she was struggling to
support.
The defendants procured fraudulent
immigration documents, confiscated the
victim’s documents, harboured her in their
home and compelled her to work long
hours with no days off for little or no pay.
They also used a scheme to isolate her and
restrict her communications, withheld her
documents and pay and refused her
requests to return home or be paid.
Court documents also said the couple failed
to provide support for the victim’s six
children in Nigeria, limited and monitored
contacts with her family in Nigeria, isolated
her from normal society in the United
States, and refused to allow her to regularly
attend church. According to the evidence at
trial, Emmanuel sexually assaulted the
victim and made her too scared to call the
police.
A statement quoted Assistant Attorney-
General for the Civil Rights Division, Thomas
E. Perez, as saying, “Holding other human
beings in servitude against their will is a
violation of human rights that will not be
tolerated in our free society. This
prosecution demonstrates our commitment
to combating human trafficking in all its
forms, vindicating the rights of trafficking
victims and bringing human traffickers to
justice.”
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201002044574934

DALLAS — She was a widow in a Nigerian
village trying to raise six children when she
says she met a man who told her he and his
wife needed a nanny for their newborn. If
she came with them to Texas, they would
help support her children financially, give
her free room and board, and pay $100 a
month, the woman says she was told.
For a mother who couldn't read or write,
lived in poverty and needed to buy her
eldest daughter medication for sickle-cell
anemia, it seemed like a desperately needed
opportunity.
Instead, the woman alleges the couple –
fellow Nigerians Emmanuel and Ngozi Nnaji
– took her travel documents when she
arrived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on Dec.
11, 1997, and forced her to work 16 hours
daily with no days off for nine years.
The couple monitored her calls to family in
Nigeria, refused to let her return home,
didn't pay her and failed to support her
children as promised, authorities say.
Emmanuel Nnaji also repeatedly despoiled
her,
according to a grand jury indictment
handed up this week in Fort Worth.
Emmanuel and Ngozi Nnaji are charged with
forced labor conspiracy, forced labor,
harboring a domestic worker for financial
gain, conspiracy to harbor for financial
gain, document servitude and making false
statements to federal agents. The indictment
outlines the despoil allegations as part of
the
forced labor conspiracy.
Attorneys for the couple did not
immediately respond to messages Friday. A
telephone listing for the Nnajis was
disconnected.
Court documents show Ngozi Nnaji, 45, told
investigators the woman, whom she knew
from her native village, showed up at the
couple's house in 1999 with a man named
Charles. She ended up staying for seven
years because Charles never came back. But
the woman was not required to do any
housework, Ngozi Nnaji told FBI agents.
Emmanuel Nnaji, 50, told agents the woman
came to stay with them for two months in
1999, at the request of a relative. They
allowed her to stay until she could "get on
her feet." He also said she cared for one of
his children in exchange for room and
board but could "come and go as she
pleased," according to a criminal complaint.
Story continues below
The woman, who The Associated Press is
not naming because authorities say she is a
victim of sexual assault, told investigators a
starkly different story. She said she met
Emmanuel Nnaji in 1996 while working as a
nanny for his brother-in-law. Ngozi Nnaji's
brother asked if she would go work for the
couple in Texas and she agreed.
He then took her to the U.S. Embassy in
Lagos and obtained a passport and visa for
her in the name of Comfort Nnaji, court
documents allege. Comfort is the name of
Emmanuel Nnaji's mother, according to
Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The woman lived with the Nnajis first in
their Irving apartment, then in their
Arlington home, according to the complaint.
After the couple had two more children, the
woman cared for all three while also
cooking and cleaning. She was not allowed
to talk to anyone outside the home,
according to the complaint.
Her family in Nigeria said they only
occasionally received money, she told
officials.
One day, the woman was able to hide in a
closet and call her niece in Nigeria to tell her
about her ordeal. The niece told a Nigerian
priest who lived in Texas and was back
home on vacation. He gave the niece his cell
phone number and asked that she give it to
her aunt, according to court documents.
The priest, identified in court documents as
GU, returned to Texas in February 2006,
established contact with the woman and
helped plan her escape. On Feb. 24, 2006,
the priest drove to Arlington, where the
woman met him on a street corner and she
fled in his car, the two told investigators.
It's unclear where the woman is now and
the Justice Department won't disclose her
location. The Nnajis each face up to 55
years in prison if convicted. Ngozi Nnaji
faces deportation because she is a Nigerian
citizen.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com

you tribalist. The article said NIGERIAN couple.

Keep it short and simple!