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Man Threatened to Kill His Girlfriend, Then Called Her From Jail, DA Says

By Gwynne Hogan | September 29, 2015 5:05pm

CHELSEA — A man with a history of violence violated two restraining orders after he strangled his girlfriend and threatened to kill her with a knife and scissors, then called her from jail, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's office. 

Rasheed Idrissu, 37, of Westbury, Long Island, had already been arrested once before in 2015 for domestic violence when he choked his girlfriend on Sept. 18 then spit on her in her 26th Street home three days earlier, prosecutors said. He also threatened to kill her with a knife and scissors, authorities said.

In committing the assault, Idrissu violated a restraining order filed by a Manhattan judge for stealing money from the girlfriend, whose name is being withheld, and shoving her into her bedroom on March 24, prosecutors said.

On Sept. 21, Idrissu disobeyed a judge's orders a third time, when he called the woman from jail, prosecutors said. His bail was upped from $20,000 to $50,000 after the phone call, records show. 

Idrissu has five prior arrests for offenses including assault and robbery, police said, and he has two prior convictions, according to Manhattan prosecutors.

In June of 2014 in Suffolk County, Idrissu was convicted of third degree assault, a family offense, meaning it was committed against a member of the household for family, Manhattan prosecutors said.

He was given a one year sentence, a spokesman for the Suffolk County prosecutors said, though he would not provide details about that crime.

Prior to his 2014 conviction Idrissu was convicted of contempt in May of 2013 in Nassau county, Manhattan prosecutors said. Information about that conviction was not immediately available.

Idrissu's lawyer did not return an immediate request for comment.