WARNING: This article contains detailed testimony of sexual assault.
The sexual assault trial of K’naan, one of Canada’s most successful rappers, began Tuesday in Quebec City.
K’naan, whose real name is Keinan Abdi Warsame, is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s in a room at the Hilton hotel in Quebec City in July 2010, when he was performing at the Festival d’été de Québec.
Warsame, who is also a filmmaker, is best known for his 2009 global hit Wavin’ Flag.
The alleged victim, who is also an artist, began testifying Tuesday.
She filed a complaint with Montreal police in May 2022. The file was eventually transferred to Quebec City police.
Her identity is protected by a publication ban. She testifed from behind a screen.
The alleged victim testified she first came to know Warsame in 2010 after they connected online. She said they decided to meet in person in Quebec City when he was scheduled to perform there.
She said they spent time together before and after the performance and that Warsame was initially “absolutely charming.”
She testified they were kissing later in the hotel and it became clear that they were going to have sexual intercourse when she realized she didn’t have a condom.
She said this made Warsame “enormously angry” and that he tried to have sex with her without a condom, but she pushed him off and he seemed to accept this and they went to sleep.
She testified she woke up in the middle of the night and felt a weight on her and realized that Warsame was having intercourse with her.
She said she was paralyzed and confused.
“How could an extraordinary man become a monster and use me like that?” she said.
She testified the next morning they had sex again, this time initiated by her. She said it was an effort to repair what happened, and to take back her humanity.
She said she was intially in denial about what happened, and it was only later through talking with a therapist that she realized she had been sexually assaulted.
“I knew it, my body knew it, I’ve always known it. But to admit it to myself was extremely difficult,” she said.
The alleged victim testified she maintained some contact with Warsame after the alleged assault.
“I had a beautiful time meeting you, but I have not been sleeping well about the non-condom thing,” she said in a text message — read in court — to Warsame the following day.
She said she met with Warsame again two weeks later when he performed at the Osheaga festival in Montreal.
“I wanted to repair things. I wanted it to be charming again as it was in the beginning,” she testified.
But she said it didn’t go well and she felt humiliated.
In December 2013, Warsame reached out to her in an email, which was read in court.
“Wonder how you’re doing. I know our interaction could have been more beautiful. I certainly have done a bit of growing up…not too much,” he wrote, adding a smiley face emoticon.
A few months later, he reached out again, asking if she had plans to visit him in New York where he was living.
She replied no, and then sent another email a few minutes later.
“You think you can just reach out to me like that? After how you acted? Come on now. Take care,” she wrote.
He responded the same day.
“If after all these years you can bear a grudge you’re absolutely not someone I would want to reach out to,” he wrote.
Two days later she wrote back.
“Right. Because you have absolutely no clue of what you did. I know that. Maybe one day I will fill you in on your actions,” she wrote.
Throughout her testimony, Warsame listened quietly and occasionally took notes.
The trial will resume Wednesday morning with cross-examination of the alleged victim by Warsame’s lawyer.
The trial is expected to last four or five days.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database.
