Following a two-week trial, a Jamaica man was convicted last week of threatening a 19-year-old girl with a box cutter before sexually assaulting her twice and then robbing her, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Andrew Barrett, 22, was connected to the attacks, in part, by forensic evidence obtained from a condom that he used during one of the assaults and discarded at the October 2011 crime scene, according to the DA.
“The defendant stands convicted of being a sexual predator who subjected his victim to a terrorizing ordeal,” Brown said in a prepared statement. “While the scars of that which occurred will be with her for the rest of her life, she proved to be resilient and exhibited grace and dignity as she confronted her attacker at trial. She is to be commended for her bravery in ensuring that the guilty did not escape justice.”
According to trial testimony, the then 19-year-old female was in the vicinity of 108-30 Merrick Blvd. around 3 a.m. on Oct. 13, 2011 when Barrett, also 19 at the time, began following her from behind and approached her wearing a black bandanna that covered his face, Brown said. He then displayed a box cutter and swung it at her before dragging her behind a dumpster, where he sexually assaulted her. The attacker then took her to another location nearby, where he again sexually assaulted her, this time using a condom which he discarded nearby.
After the assaults, Barrett robbed the victim of her iPod, $10 in cash, and a bank debit card, Brown said.
He will be sentenced June 3.
