FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Brooklyn Man Sentenced to 40 Years to Life in Prison for Breaking into Apartment
And Sexually Assaulting Bushwick Woman
Defendant Had Been Hired to Clean Victim’s Apartment, Returned and Attacked Her
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 22-year-old Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison following his conviction on predatory sexual assault and related charges for breaking into a Bushwick apartment and attacking a woman.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “I am committed to public safety and fighting for justice for all sexual assault victims. This was an especially heinous attack in which the defendant assaulted and terrorized a woman for hours. It’s important for people to feel safe in the sanctity of their own home.”
The District Attorney said that the defendant, Romaric Guiebre, 22, of Brooklyn, was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dena Douglas. He was convicted last month of predatory sexual assault, first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree burglary as a sexually motivated felony, second-degree robbery as a sexually motivated felony, and other charges, following a jury trial.
The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on July 25, 2016, at approximately 1:30 a.m., on DeKalb Avenue in Bushwick, the victim, a 29-year-old woman, was sleeping in her apartment when she heard a key turn in her front door. When she went to investigate, she saw the defendant in the apartment. She screamed, and the defendant grabbed her around the neck and pushed her into the apartment bedroom; he then pulled out a gun and stated: “I’m going to kill you.”
A struggle ensued, according to trial testimony, and the victim bit the defendant on the nose, causing him to bleed profusely. He then tied her up and blindfolded her with a bedsheet, sexually assaulted her and made her take a shower. During the assault he demanded money, taking her debit card and PIN number. Before leaving the apartment, he gathered the bedding and other items that had blood on them and put them in a garbage bag and left the apartment at approximately 4 a.m. Blood was recovered from the scene, including the bedroom floor and the bathroom.
The defendant told the woman not to call police or he would kill her. He left and withdrew $400 from her bank account. The woman called her boyfriend, who called police.
The defendant, who worked as a house cleaner, cleaned the woman’s apartment on July 17, 2016 and it is believed he used a spare key to break into her apartment the night of the attack.
Investigators questioned the defendant because he had been in the apartment prior to the attack to provide a cleaning service. Following an investigation, he was arrested on August 23, 2016. The defendant admitted being in the woman’s apartment the night of the attack, tying her up and using her ATM card to withdraw money from her account, the evidence showed. Blood found in the apartment was a match to his DNA.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorneys Lauren Silver and Gwen Barnes of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Frank DeGaetano, First Deputy Chief and Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Bureau Chief.
#