Victim Of ’50 Shades’ Inspired Rape To Testify

The victim of a rape inspired by the movie, Fifty Shades of Grey is expected to testify against the accused next week. Mohammad Hossain, a 19-year-old student leader at the University of Illinois at Chicago is accused of sexual assault. Hossain maintains that the sex was consensual and that the two were participating in a re-enactment of scenes from the film.

Hossain is a biology student studying to be a pediatrician at UIC. He has been held in protective custody at the Cook County Jail on $500,000 bail since his arrest last month. His attorney, Joshua Kutnick, told the Chicago Tribune that Hossain has never been arrested previously.

“This kid is a star, OK?” Kutnick said. “He’s a top-notch student. He graduated with a 4.6 (GPA) from high school. He’s a triathlete. He’s what they call a UIC alumni ambassador…. This is not a rapist.”

“We think this (hearing) is going to show that it was two 19-year-old college students who agreed to have an encounter like this,” he said.

As reported on WGN, a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Thursday so a judge can decide whether enough evidence exists for the case to go to trial. Prosecutors typically call alleged rape victims to testify at these hearings.

As reported by the Chicago Tribune, Hossain and the victim had been intimate previously. The victim and Hossain went to Hossain’s dorm room where he bound the victim’s hands and legs, stuffed a necktie in her mouth and put a knit cap over her eyes. Hossain started hitting her and the victim told him to stop and began shaking her head and crying. He proceeded to sexually assault the victim despite her pleas for him to stop. According to prosecutors, the woman was eventually able to leave and she called police. Hossain was arrested later that night in another dorm.

Seven of Hossain’s family members attended Friday’s hearing. Kutnick said he has subpoenaed videotape from a common area inside the dorm that he hopes will have captured the woman’s demeanor as she arrived at and left the building, bolstering his consent defense.

“He doesn’t like being locked up, and it’s a scary thing for him,” Kutnick said. “He seems to be doing OK, but he’s very anxious to get this done.”

Read about the UIC case by clicking here.