Broward Circuit Judge Lisa Porter has been in law for 25 years in Florida, but she never saw a case like this one. Five teenagers allegedly organized and then beat, held down, and videotaped a 16-year old girl while she was raped by 19-year old Jayvon Woolfork.
At the hearing for Patricia Montes, 15, and Erica Avery, 16, prosecutor Maria Schneider handed over the defendants’ cellphones and told Porter the victim pleaded with the attackers to stop. The girl broke bones in her face and bled from her ears when she was thrown down the stairs and her head smashed against the concrete. Her eyes were beaten in until they were swollen shut.
“The cruelty shown on this video… this was repeated over and over again… The girls are trying to remove her bra. You saw the victim sitting on the toilet crying, her face blown up and swollen from injuries, and then they beat her,” Schneider said.
“The video is disturbing,” Porter said. “The conduct of these ladies is depraved, it is just unconscionable that people can treat other people like this… Videos don’t lie and the video is there.”
They are charged with two counts of felony armed sexual assault and kidnapping and are charged as adults. Montes’ lawyer Hillard Moldof tried to explain that the video did not tell the whole story.
But Judge Porter interjected, expressing her dismay at downplaying such a heinous crime. “What justification is there to drag that victim by her hair on the floor and punch her in the face?” the judge asked.
Avery laughed and rolled her eyes throughout the hearing, and her lawyer had to force her to remain composed. Montes did not do much. She was the victim’s best friend and convinced her to come over and makeup after they had a falling out over a boy.
According to the police report, the girl was watching TV and listening to music when Montes and Avery suddenly grabbed her, pinned her down and began kicking her in the head.
They taunted her, called her names and told her that they would continue to beat her until she agreed to have sex with a 19-year-old man who lived in the house.
The girl refused, and Montes, Avery and three others continued to beat her, telling her that they wouldn’t let up until she complied, the report said. They then dragged her by her hair into a bedroom, where they stripped her of her clothes and the 19-year-old, identified as Jayvon Woolfork, raped her, it said.
Afterwards, they told her she could leave, as long as she left her shoes. Battered and bloody, she wandered into the street where she flagged down someone who took her to a relative’s home nearby.
After losing consciousness, she was transported to Hollywood Memorial Hospital in Hollywood, where she remained for several days. Her head was swollen and she could not see. Doctors told police that she had broken two bones in her face.
The girls received $100,000 bail and only need to post 10% to be released. They will wear ankle bracelets and are forbidden to use the internet. Dwayne Henry, 17, Lanel Singleton, 18, and Woolfork, 19, face charges of capital felony sexual assault and kidnapping.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.