A push to process Hennepin County’s backlog of sexual assault kits has now resulted in justice for the victim of a 2013 sexual assault.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday that Mohamud Bulle, 36, will serve nearly 20 years (235 months) after a jury convicted him of two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of kidnapping.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the DNA evidence that led to Bulle’s conviction was found among 1,758 untested sexual assault kits that the Minneapolis auditor discovered in 2019.
“The failure to test these sexual assault kits left many victims without answers, closure or justice for years,” Moriarty said.
Melissa Zimmerman, the survivor of Bulle’s assault, testified at trial, a factor that Moriarty said was crucial toward securing a conviction.
During a news conference, Zimmerman stressed the importance of undergoing a sexual assault examination in bringing justice.
“Girls out there: Getting a rape test kit done isn’t easy — it’s scary. But if I wouldn’t have done it that day, I wouldnt have been able to send a horrible horrible person to jail finally,” Zimmerman said.
A federal grant issued in 2020 through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) allowed Minneapolis to review all of the police department’s untested kits — some of which dated back to the 1990s — and all suitable biological evidence has now been analyzed.
The post Man will serve nearly 20 years for sexual assault, kidnapping first appeared on KSTP.com 5 Eyewitness News.
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