Guilty verdict in case of woman raped in apartment building hallway

The victim screamed for help in the hallway of a St. Paul apartment building for as long as an hour before someone called 911, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Jill Gerber told a jury Tuesday morning.

It took the jury just a couple of hours to reach its verdict: Rage Ibrahim, 26, was guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Ibrahim had tears in his eyes as he waved to his mother and a half-dozen of his mother's friends and neighbors as he was quickly led from the courtroom by a deputy.

His attorney, Jerod Peterson, followed him and emerged later to say simply, "We're disappointed in the verdict. I'll be talking to him about an appeal."

District Judge Michael Fetsch set sentencing for March 15.

The victim, a 19-year-old woman, said Ibrahim tried to have sex with her early on Aug. 21 at the apartment of Hussein A. Hussein, whom they knew as John, in the 300 block of S. Winthrop. Ibrahim became violent when she turned away his sexual advances -- slapping, punching and throwing her to the floor. She fled into the hallway, where the assault continued.

Ibrahim sexually assaulted her, though she managed to thwart intercourse by holding her legs tightly together, the woman testified.

A surveillance tape from the hallway shows Ibrahim apparently punch the woman at least a half-dozen times. It also shows residents peer outside their doors and even approach Ibrahim and the woman but then retreat.

It wasn't until a man came to pick up his daughter from a baby-sitter in the building that police were called.

And the call received a low-priority because the man said nothing about a rape or assault and told police there were two drunken people sleeping in the hallway.

When officers arrived, they found the woman and Ibrahim lying in the hall, both naked from the waist down and both extremely intoxicated.

The woman was crying and told the male and female officer that she'd been "drugged" and raped.

There may have been some amorous activity between Ibrahim and the woman that night, Peterson said, but there certainly was no rape.

The woman -- and Ibrahim -- were "drop-dead drunk" and she could have gotten abrasions on her nose, upper lip and chin when she fell down, Peterson said. If Ibrahim had punched her, as she said "with all his energy," she'd be far more severely injured, he said.

"The question is not whether you agree with what went on in that hallway," Peterson told the jury. "... He cannot be convicted for something he MIGHT have done."

Ibrahim's mother, Fadumo Warsame, was in the courtroom every day, along with several friends and neighbors.

"He's not guilty at all," she said through an interpreter after the verdict. "He was very kind. He was a good man, helpful to all these ladies.