ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
An arrest was made late last week in what Garden City police believe to be a human trafficking case.
The Garden City Police Department issued a press release saying shortly before 6 a.m. last Friday, officers responded to the east part of town, where a woman was screaming and pleading for help, and an unidentified man was following her.
“When officers arrived, they located the woman in the driveway of a residence with numerous injuries,” the release said. “She was transported to St. Catherine Hospital for treatment of those injuries.”
The release went on to say the man, identified as 44-year-old Mohamed Hakim, fled before police arrived but was later located and taken into custody.
“Officers learned the victim was recently placed into an arranged marriage to Hakim against her will in exchange for money and was relocated to the United States from overseas by her family to carry out the arrangement,” the release said.
The release also said after arriving in Garden City, the victim was physically and sexually assaulted and confined to the home without communication or resources other than those provided by Hakim.
“Further investigation revealed the victim’s relocation to the United States was facilitated under transactional and coercive circumstances,” the release said.
GCPD said Hakim was logged in the Finney County Jail for rape, aggravated domestic battery, aggravated human trafficking, aggravated kidnapping, and criminal threat.
GCPD reminds the public the investigation is ongoing, and the person(s) involved have not yet been convicted of a crime and are presumed innocent.
“The presumption of innocence shall continue until such time that the person(s) accused may be found guilty by a court of law,” the release concluded.
