Jury to Decide If African Woman Brought to Southlake Home to Work Without Pay Was ‘slave' Or Considered Part of Family

FORT WORTH -- The questions arose again and again. Why didn't she just leave? Why not run to a neighbor -- or contact authorities?They hung over the testimony this week of a young African woman who told a federal jury that she was forced to clean, cook and serve as a nanny for a wealthy Southlake couple without pay for more than 15 years. But Djena Diallo also told jurors during about five hours on the witness stand during Mohamed Toure and Denise Florence Cros-Toure's trial in Fort Worth that she could on occasion come and go from the Toure home. Toure and Cros-Toure are accused of forced labor for bringing Diallo to their Southlake home and benefiting from her unpaid domestic work. During cross-examination, defense attorneys hammered away at the alleged victim's testimony, getting her to admit she had numerous opportunities to seek help while she was outside the Toure family home.   Continue reading...