Judge orders immediate deportation of Qatari couple he calls ‘barbaric’in abusing servants

Hasan Al-Homoud, a Qatari military officer, and his wife, Zainab Al-Hosani, shown in October, accused of abusing two female servants, entered a plea deal and were immediately deported Wednesday. Hasan Al-Homoud, a Qatari military officer, and his wife, Zainab Al-Hosani, shown in October, accused of abusing two female servants, entered a plea deal and were immediately deported Wednesday. Photo: Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News Photo: Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 42 Caption Close Judge orders immediate deportation of Qatari couple he calls ‘barbaric’in abusing servants 1 / 42 Back to Gallery

An angry judge in San Antonio reluctantly gave a Qatari military officer and his wife probation and ordered them deported immediately for abusing two female servants who were brought to the U.S. to clean the couple’s posh home in the Dominion.

The women were locked in an empty apartment for the few hours they weren’t working, weren’t allowed to use the bathroom at the home in the Dominion and one of them was hit in the head when she tried to dig food out of the trash at the the couple’s home.

Chief U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia, still bothered by the plea deal prosecutors reached with lawyers of Hasan Al-Homoud, and his wife, Zainab Al-Hosani, threatened to jail them.

Al-Homoud, 46, a colonel in the Quatariwas in San Antonio to train and study. He brought his wife and two servants, one from Bangladesh and the other from Indonesia. One of the servants reported their mistreatment to police.

At sentencing hearings Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bettina Richardson read statements from the women, who said they had no idea they would be brought to the United States and believed that they would be working in the Middle East.

They said their passports were taken by their employers and weren’t allowed to communicate with relatives..

The Qatari couple pleaded guilty to visa fraud as part of a plea deal in which they agreed to voluntarily depart the U.S. They also agreed to pay $60,000 to each woman. Separately, they agreed to pay them more as part of a confidential settlement. Richardson said both women were doing well and receiving help from nonprofit organizations.

Richardson said neither woman wanted to testify and that without their testimony, it would be difficult to make a strong case at a trial.

The judge called the Qatari couple’s actions “barbaric” and ordered them to leave the country, saying that if they hit a snag on their departure, he’d order them returned here to wait in jail until the issue was resolved.

“This person is never, ever to enter the U.S. again. Never. Ever,” Garcia said. “I want them to leave. Out.”

The judge wanted Al-Homoud to admit to the allegations, but his lawyer, Gerry Goldstein, argued that his client couldn’t because there were discrepancies in what the women told police at the time and what they said now in their statements.

Al-Homoud read a statement when Garcia asked him to speak: “I take full responsibility for my conduct. My conduct has brought shame upon myself, my lovely wife, upon my family and upon my country.”

“That’s it?” the judge said. “No apology to the victims?”

He called a recess, and afterward, Al-Homoud apologized, as did his wife. Her lawyer, John Convery, told the judge that she was terrified.

Afterward, Convery said there are differences in culture and language that would have to be taken into account to get a better picture of how the servants were treated.

The Qatari couple left San Antonio on one-way flights to their home country Wednesday. There were no reports of any snags.

gcontreras@express-news.net