Kentucky authorities have dismissed charges against an Iraqi man accused of raping an Iranian student after it emerged the two had had a long-term relationship.
Both were students at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Warren County District Judge John Brown Friday dismissed the case against Abdulhameed Dawood, 28. He was arrested Feb. 1 and charged with first-degree rape.
Judge Brown had initially found probable cause to send the case to a grand jury, but the prosecutor, Warren County Com-monwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron, moved to have the case dismissed after information emerged that appeared to clear Dawood.
“We had additional information come forward and, after consulting with the witness, the decision was made to dismiss the case without prejudice,” Cohron said.
The Iranian woman, who was not named, told police Dawood forced her to have sex two to three times a week beginning in September last year, according to court records.
A police report claimed Dawood made several threats to the woman after she completed the semester last fall, visited Iran and told Dawood the relationship was over.
The woman told police that Dawood was controlling and had contacted one of her relatives on Facebook and sent the relative two photos of Dawood and the woman. He threatened to send sexually explicit photos and video of the two of them if the woman did not resume the relationship, according to a police report.
Bowling Green Detective Jordan Wilson testified in a February preliminary hearing that police were not aware of any explicit videos of the two.
Dawood’s attorney, Alan Simpson, said he submitted several photographs to investigators showing Dawood and the woman happily together during the time when the sexual assaults were alleged to have taken place.
Wilson testified in February that the woman told her parents about the relationship with Dawood and his intentions of marrying her, and that her parents told her they were not opposed to the idea of her pursuing a relationship with him since she was an adult and could make her own decisions.
A copy of a receipt for an engagement ring purchased months prior to the rape accusation and documents showing that Dawood had picked up the woman from the airport after returning from Iran were also provided to investigators, Simpson said.
“My understanding is she had not fully disclosed those things to the investigator,” Simpson said. “She also said basically, ‘I just want him to leave me alone…. I don’t want to be in court.’ ”
Dawood’s passport and cellphone, which he had turned over during the investigation, have been returned to him, and he is in the process of re-enrolling at the university, Simpson said.
“It’s going to be difficult for him to ever forget that he got accused of this and was in jail in a foreign country,” Simpson said. “It’s taken a piece of his life, but he’s a very talented kid and he’ll move on, I’m sure. He wants to further his education and get to work in his chosen field.”
Prosecutor Cohron said cases involving sexual offenses are prosecuted on an individual basis, and his office makes the decision on whether to prosecute. He said he hopes that the dismissal of this case does not deter victims of sexual assault and domestic violence from coming forward.
“The trauma of one of these events alone, coupled with the stress of going into the criminal justice system, even in the best cases, can make victims hesitant to report,” Cohron told the Bowling Green Daily News.