Photo Courtesy of Google
The 16-year-old victim was slashed twice on the left side of her face on 147th Street near 13th Avenue.
By Forum Staff
Two men have been sentenced to lengthy terms of incarceration for the vicious slashing attack of a teenage girl, who was mistaken for another youngster, as she walked to school in Whitestone, Queens, in December of 2015.
The two defendants are identified as as Wilson Lai, 26, of Oakland Gardens, Queens, and Devon Berkley, 39, of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Both men pleaded guilty last month to first-degree assault before Queens Supreme Court Justice Gregory L. Lasak, who sentenced Lai to 19 years in prison and Berkley to 18 years.
Both defendants’ sentences will be followed by five years’ post release supervision.
According to the charges, Lai and Berkley worked together planning the attack on a teenage girl that Lai knew. But on December 16, 2015, Berkley pounced on the wrong teenager and attacked a 16-year-old exchange student who was walking to school in Whitestone, Queens, that morning. The youngster was slashed twice in the face. The victim was hospitalized and eventually recovered from her injuries, however, two long scars still line the left side of her face.
District Attorney Brown said, “The victim in this case was not the intended target, but nonetheless she will have to live with the pain of the slashing for the rest of her life –
as well as the permanent scars that remain visible on her face.”
