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Saturday, May 18, 2013 | 8:57 a.m.

Updated: 2:58 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011 | Posted: 4:44 p.m. Monday, Aug. 29, 2011

Cab Driver Accused Of Raping Passenger



THURSTON COUNTY, Washington —

A cab driver has been jailed in Thurston County after a woman said he picked her up at a Tacoma nightclub Saturday, drove her around for hours and raped her.

"I'm a wreck; I feel like I'm losing my mind," the woman told KIRO 7 on Monday.

She asked us not to use her name or show her face.

The woman said she hailed a taxi to take her home from Jazzbones Nightclub in Tacoma early Saturday. She said the driver agreed on a $20 fare to Lacey, but then drove her around for almost two hours, running the meter up to $118.

"I kept telling him he wasn't going the right way ... and he said he was following his GPS," the woman said.

The cab driver eventually pulled into the woman's driveway. She didn't have $118, so he accepted the $47 she did have. The woman said her door was locked and she couldn't get out until the driver walked around the cab, opened the door and made an unusual request.

Mahamud Husseno - Cab Driver Accused In Rape Mahamud Husseno Image of Mahamud Husseno

"He asked me for a hug and I just kind of gave him this little hug," she said. "That's when he lifted me up, threw me in the back seat of the cab face down."

The woman said the man then raped her in the back seat of the cab. She said she tried screaming, but no one could hear her.

The woman provided a police artist with a good enough description of her attacker for the artist to produce a sketch. Surveillance video from the club helped track down the cab, which was not licensed, and the driver.

"The surveillance video was huge for us," said Lt. Greg Elwin with the Thurston County Sheriff's Office.

According to court documents, the suspect, Mahamud Husseno, admitted he took a woman to her home in Lacey on Saturday, but he said there was no physical contact between them.

WATCH IT: Taxi Driver's Friends Deny Charges

Husseno was supposed to appear in court for a bail hearing Monday, but the hearing was postponed until Tuesday because Husseno is Somalian and court officials needed more time to find a translator.

"I hope he gets everything that comes to him," the woman said. "I hope he gets thrown in jail, I hope he's deported, I hope he gets everything."

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