FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, December 12, 2016
Brooklyn Man Convicted of Raping
82-Year-Old Woman in her Brighton Beach Home
Faces Up to 122 Years in Prison
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 20-year-old Brooklyn man has been convicted of rape, sexual abuse, assault and other charges for attacking an 82-year-old woman in her Brighton Beach home last year.
Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant committed a reprehensible and terrifying assault on a vulnerable elderly woman who had the courage to face her attacker in court. This defendant has now been brought to justice and held accountable for his actions.”
The Acting District Attorney said that the defendant, Asa Robert, 20, of Brooklyn, was convicted today of first-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act, following his conviction last week of first-degree sexual abuse, second-degree assault, first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, second-degree burglary and two counts of second-degree criminal trespass, following a jury trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice. The judge set sentencing for January 10, 2017, at which time the defendant faces up to 122 years in prison.
The Acting District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on July 13, 2015, at approximately 2 a.m., in the vicinity of Brighton 11th Street in Brighton Beach, the defendant entered the victim’s apartment while she was outside taking out the garbage. A short while later, after the victim went to bed she heard a noise and discovered the defendant hiding in her bedroom. The victim yelled for him to leave, but he refused. Instead, he strangled her and forced her onto the bed, where he held a knife to her face, demanded money and punched her in the chest. The defendant then tied her hands behind her back and ransacked the bedroom.
The Acting District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, the defendant then brought the victim into her kitchen and again assaulted her and ordered her not to call the police. The defendant brought the victim back to her bedroom shortly thereafter and raped and sodomized the victim.
After again instructing the victim not to call the police, the defendant fled the home with a bag containing the victim’s personal items. The victim called family members, who called 911. Police responded and the victim was treated at Kings County Hospital.
The defendant led the police on a four-day chase through various homes in Brooklyn. He was arrested on July 17, 2015 after being found hiding in the kitchen of a private residence.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Lisa Nugent of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau and Senior Assistant District Attorney Olatokunbo Olaniyan, formerly of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau, under the supervision of Miss Gregory, Chief.
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