No Bail for Suspect in Brutal Rape Case on Upper West Side
Suspect with 15 past arrests was out while awaiting sentencing in a Bronx sex assault on a 16 year old girl.
| 10 Mar 2023 | 05:54
Jamel McIver, 30, who is charged with a violent rape of a woman on the Upper West Side on March 5 was remanded into custody without bail. Photo: CrimeStoppers.
A man with 15 past arrests who is charged with the brutal rape of a 21-year-old woman on the Upper West Side in the early hours of March 5, has been remanded into custody with no bail following his arrest.
James McIver, 30, who was arrested March 6 reportedly after being turned in by his own family, has been charged with one count of rape in the first degree, one count of criminal sexual act in the first degree and one count of burglary in the second degree as a sexually motivated felony, prosecutors said.
The victim was returning to her apartment building after an evening out with her boyfriend around 1:20 am on March 4, according to the prosecutors when McIver snuck into the building and followed her onto the elevator.
He then threatened to kill the woman repeatedly and gestured towards his pocket, implying he was in possession of a weapon, according to grisly details of the assault contained in the charging documents.
McIver raped the victim both orally and vaginally. He then pulled the victim down multiple flights of stairs and forced her outside of the building and down the block. Prosecutors said he threatened the woman saying “Walk out with me and do exactly what I say. If you call the police or I see myself on the news, I am going to kill you.” He let her go about half a block from the building before fleeing the scene.
Surveillance camera footage shows McIver subsequently disposing of the jacket and sweatshirt he was wearing during the attack, apparently to avoid being identified by law enforcement.
McIver was previously indicted for separate assaults in the Bronx and Queens and was still awaiting sentence for the former at the time of this most recent rape. In the Bronx incident, McIver broke into the bedroom of a 16-year-old girl while she was sleeping. Similarly to this case, McIver threatened that victim by saying, “I have a gun. Don’t scream or I will shoot you,” before forcing her to touch his genitals.
If convicted, McIver faces between 5 and 25 years in state prison for the rape charge.
Eugene B. Nathanson, McIver’s attorney, declined to comment.