A 25-year-old man accused of wielding a knife while his accomplice allegedly raped a female worker inside a Brooklyn business nearly two weeks ago has been arrested in connection to the horrifying crime, cops said.
Mohammed Alwi, 25, of Canarsie, was nabbed Wednesday in connection to the attack on a 49-year-old woman around 6 p.m. Dec. 23 inside an unnamed business near 9th Avenue and 59th Street in Borough Park, authorities said.
While Alwi’s partner-in-crime Mohammed Izzeddin, 22, sexually assaulted the worker, Alwi displayed a knife to keep two other people inside the business “under control,” police said.
He was charged with rape, robbery, sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, forcible touching, menacing, assault and harassment, authorities said.
His arraignment was pending Thursday afternoon.
The traumatized victim told PIX 11 days after the attack that she hasn’t been able to sleep since the startling crime.
“I had not rested for 24 hours — not at all, on any day since because I could not calm down, and now I am slowly adjusting. I think I may see a psychiatrist next,” the woman told the network.
She said she was with two female coworkers when the violent pair allegedly forced their way through the door.
“When I opened the door, the bad guy hit me in the face very hard,” said the victim, who does not speak English.
“I was afraid of hurting the other two girls, so I opened the door for him,” the woman said.
Izzeddin also choked her before he and Alwi swiped $300 in cash from the business, she said.
She had a reddish mark on her cheek where she said the man had hit her, according to PIX 11.
She then said she was raped by Izzeddin while Alwi held the two other workers at knifepoint and ordered them to be quiet.
The pair ran off with the money and the woman was taken to a local hospital.
Izzeddin, of Bay Ridge, was taken into custody Thursday on the same charges as Alwi, cops said.
“I didn’t rape her!” Izzeddin yelled out as police escorted him out of the NYPD’s 66th Precinct stationhouse, the New York Daily News reported. “It’s a prostitution spot!”
He pleaded not guilty during his arraignment, and bail was set at $20,000 cash, $150,000 insured bond or $150,000.00 partially secured surety bond, online records show.
Izzeddin was released from custody on Wednesday due to a procedural loophole, according to city Department of Correction records and a law enforcement source.
When Izzeddin was initially arraigned, the deadline for the DA’s office to file his indictment was scheduled for this Wednesday, the source said.
His lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, argued that it should have actually been set for Tuesday, because a few hours passed between the time Izzeddin was placed into police custody and when he was officially arrested, with formal charges filed, according to the source.
Judge Christopher Robles sided with that argument and Izzeddin was granted supervised release, the source said.
