Just as news that the fifth suspect in a violent Brooklyn gang rape has been arrested, disturbing details surrounding the case are beginning to emerge. The group of teen boys who allegedly forced an 18-year-old woman to have sex by gunpoint claimed that not only consensual but that they caught the woman and her father having sex as well.
We reported yesterday on the arrests of Denzel Murray, 14, Shaquell Cooper, 15, Ethan Phillip, 15, and Onandi Brown, 17, who were all arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court Tuesday (Jan. 12). The fifth suspect, Travis Beckford, 17, was arrested at his school Tuesday and is awaiting arraignment. The teens claim that the woman agreed to oral sex with two of the boys and intercourse with a third after discovering she was having sex with her father in Osborn Playground, this after they demanded the father leave.
The teens’ account contrasts greatly wth the father and daughter. According to the father’s side, the pair had been drinking beer at the park after reconnecting after a period of time. The two say that the boys actually ordered the father away via gunpoint, at which point he ran off to get help. The father says he threw a glass bottle at the teens but they ran him off again. The daughter didn’t remember if there was a gun, causing some to cast doubt on the father’s claims.
Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce found holes in the claims of incest by the boys and added that a gun wasn’t found at the scene. Boyce added that the woman and father’s stories seemed to match up, although the investigation into the matter is still ongoing.
Adding another wrinkle to the case is news reported by Gothamist that one of the suspects has cellphone video that proves the victim consented to the sexual acts with the boys.
According to DNA Info, Brooklyn Congressman Hakeeem Jeffries thought that the father should have defended his daughter from the brazen attack and shared that the victim lived in foster for 16 years before finding her biological parent. Jeffries also added that the foster care environment was harrowing for the woman.
The NYPD was able to track down the suspects via surveillance video. Two mothers of the boys turned their sons in while another surrendered. The fourth was found via a tip. All of these arrests happened prior to Beckford’s arrest.
[h/t Gawker]
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Photo: screen cap
