NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — A Bahamas police officer faces possible extradition to the United States for an alleged assault on a Texas college student in 2001.
Nyahuma Anthony Bastian, who was arrested while on duty Friday, is listed by the U.S. Justice Department as one of its 10 most wanted sex offenders.
He was attending the University of North Texas when he allegedly ambushed, beat and raped a female student. A U.S. Marshals wanted poster said he was charged with aggravated sexual assault and fled the country.
An extradition hearing was scheduled for July 28.
At a preliminary hearing Friday, Bastian said he has been an officer of the Royal Bahamas Police Force for eight years. It was not immediately clear what prompted his arrest after so much time at large.
A Marshals spokeswoman in Washington, Nikki Credic, said Saturday she was seeking information on the arrest.
Bastian, 35, pleaded with Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez to grant him bail, saying he feared retribution from inmates he had arrested as an officer of the law. He claimed one other officer who was incarcerated was repeatedly raped.
“If I were remanded, I can’t tell you what would become of me,” Bastian said.
Gomez ordered him jailed but said he would ask prison officials to keep Bastian isolated from the general prison population.
Bastian’s lawyer, Devard Francis, said his client attended hearings in the sexual assault cause between July and September 2001. He said he did not appear for trial because his U.S. visa expired.
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