CHICAGO — Prosecutors have charged a second man with kidnapping a woman from a Boystown bar and then raping her at a North Side apartment. Quribullah Mohammad, 21, was held in lieu of a $100,000 bail deposit by Judge Ankur Srivastava on Monday afternoon.
The 22-year-old victim was with co-workers at a bar on the Halsted Street nightlife strip when Mohammad, 21, and Sarwar Khan, 46, walked in around 12:50 a.m. on June 27, officials said. Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord told the judge they did not know the woman.
Khan offered to buy the woman a drink as she waited in line for the restroom, McCord said, and the woman “reluctantly agreed.” When she came out of the bathroom, Khan was waiting for her with a beer. McCord said the woman told Khan that she felt “extremely intoxicated” and had decided to go home.
But Khan told her she was going home with him and “forcefully guided her” toward the front door, McCord continued. She said Mohammad appeared at the door and “forcefully ushered” her out of the bar.
Chicago police found city and private surveillance footage that showed both men putting the woman into Mohammad’s car. As Mohammad drove to Khan’s home in the 5700 block of North Washtenaw, Khan sexually abused the woman in the back seat.
All three walked up to Khan’s home, but the woman could not climb the stairs, and Mohammad had to carry her up, McCord alleged.
She said the men took the woman into Khan’s bedroom, where he raped her while Mohammad waited in another room. Then the men switched places, and Mohammad raped her, too, McCord said.
Shortly after 2 a.m., the woman was able to call 911 on her phone. When Khan saw her on the phone, he knocked it from her hand and ordered her not to call anyone, McCord said.
Mohammad allegedly took the woman’s wallet, buried it in a neighboring yard, and fled. McCord said Chicago police body cameras recorded footage of Mohammad crossing the street as officers arrived.
EMS took her to a hospital for treatment of “extensive” injuries consistent with sexual assault as well as abrasions and marks on her body, McCord said. A sexual assault evidence kit was collected for testing, but McCord did not say if the testing had been completed.
Mohammad is charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, aggravated armed kidnapping, and aggravated robbery.
His defense attorney said he moved to the United States from Afghanistan in November 2021 and has lived in Chicago since February last year. Mohammad worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan and decided to move to the States because he feared for his safety when the Taliban regained control, the lawyer said. He has been supporting himself by working as a driver for food delivery apps.
Judge Srivastava acknowledged that McCord offered no evidence that the victim specifically identified Mohammad as one of the men who abducted and raped her. But he said the allegations that he buried the victim’s wallet and fled the scene after she called 911 could suggest he has a guilty conscience.
If Mohammad can post bail, he must go on electronic monitoring.
Prosecutors charged Khan with the same offenses last month. His bail was set at $1.5 million by Judge Susana Ortiz, meaning he must post a $150,000 deposit to go home on an ankle monitor.
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