New Jersey police submit physical evidence in sexual assualt incident

Authorities have submitted hairs and other physical evidence to be analyzed by the New Jersey State Police crime lab as part of the ongoing investigation into a Nov. 10 incident of alleged aggravated sexual assault, Borough Police Capt. Charles Davall said yesterday.

Authorities collected the evidence after an 18-year-old female University student was allegedly sexually assaulted and her Forbes room was burglarized while she and her boyfriend were sleeping.

Police arrested Kamal Aqui '03 Thursday on charges of aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact and robbery. Davall said Aqui admitted during police questioning to entering the victim's room and sexually assaulting her.

Aqui was released Friday from the Mercer County Correction Facility on $25,000 bond. He has not returned repeated phone calls and e-mails from The Daily Princetonian during the last four days.

According to Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor's office, Aqui has not yet entered a formal plea in response to the charges. She said the county prosecutor's office is now involved in coordinating the investigation with Borough Police.

Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Marianne Waterbury said yesterday that, to her knowledge, no University administrator has spoken with Aqui since the afternoon of his arrest.

Waterbury said the University typically conducts its own investigations when students are arrested to determine if disciplinary action is warranted. She said, however, no University investigation into the alleged incident has been started.

The University usually waits to launch its own investigation until police efforts are largely concluded, she said.

In some instances, including those involving alleged sexual assault, Vice President for Undergraduate Students Janet Dickerson is authorized to summarily suspend a student suspected of being involved in an incident until the matter is further investigated by University and law enforcement officials.

If that student is subsequently found to be innocent of any charges, that suspension is expunged from his or her record.

Waterbury, however, declined to say whether Aqui has been suspended, and Dickerson could not be reached for comment yesterday.