Robert Williams Trial for Rape/Torture of Columbia Student

[rem16]

By BARBARA ROSS and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Friday, June 6th 2008, 10:06 AM

The ex-con accused of raping and torturing a Columbia journalism student chickened out Friday and refused to show up for his trial.

Robert Williams' decision spared the scarred young woman from having to confront the man who allegedly held her captive for 19 hours, tried to blind her with bleach - and carved up her face with a butcher knife.

"The corrections department said he's refused to come," Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman told the attorneys.

Usually when a defendant opts out of court, he has to sign a waiver. Williams did no such thing, defense attorney Arnold Levine pointed out.

Assistant District Attorney Ann Prunty said Williams had a history of refusing to cooperate with law enforcement.

"You can't draw any inference that the signature is missing," Prunty said. "My assistant spoke with corrections this morning as well and they confirmed his refusal."

Berkman ordered the trial to continue and the victim, who was 23 when she was attacked on April 13, 2007, will take the stand this afternoon.

Her testimony comes a day after Prunty charged that Williams turned the victim's Hamilton Heights apartment into a "torture chamber."

In an account that shocked listeners and forced a veteran sketch artist to flee in tears, Prunty told the court that Williams showed the victim no mercy and "proceeded to violate her in every way imaginable, and in some ways unimaginable."

Williams, 31, gave no indication he was even listening as he sat beside Levine - shackled to his seat. He is charged with 71 criminal counts, including attempted murder, arson, rape and sodomy. He faces life in prison.

The ordeal left the victim with a scarred face, severe burns, and liver damage from the over-the-counter pills she was forced to swallow by the fistfull.

Prunty said the woman was burned with bleach and later ordered to stab out her own eyes with scissors. When she couldn't do it, her attacker scalded her with boiling water, the prosecutor said.

"The next thing she heard was the kettle whistling," Prunty said. "She will never be able to stand that sound again."

There were more horrors. She was forced to shear off her own hair - then her face was mutilated.

"He chose a butcher knife and slowly began to slice into her face and eyelids, carving and disfiguring her face," Prunty said.

"In her despair, she told him to just kill her, but he was just getting started."
Before fleeing, the sadist tied her to a futon frame and set it on fire. But she used the flames to melt the computer cable cords binding her hands and feet - and escaped.

"It sounded like a good plan but it failed," Prunty said. "She saved herself from his attempt to incinerate her alive."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/06/2008-06-06_suspect_in_rape_of_columbia_student_refu.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/05/2008-06-05_unspeakable_horrors_as_trial_opens_in_to.html

Picture of suspect at link..

What a monster! Glad she escaped to testify against him.

[KittyMom]

OMGosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


:madranting94dp:

This is horrible. He should be dragged to that courthouse BEHIND a police car.

:madranting94dp:

[LiveLaughLuv]

OMG! What a sick POS! He tortored that poor woman and wanted her to due harm to herself. Scarred for life, I give her credit for standing up to him. See, someone like this deserves nothing less than the DP. :madranting94dp:

In an account that shocked listeners and forced a veteran sketch artist to flee in tears, Prunty told the court that Williams showed the victim no mercy and "proceeded to violate her in every way imaginable, and in some ways unimaginable."

Williams, 31, gave no indication he was even listening as he sat beside Levine - shackled to his seat. He is charged with 71 criminal counts, including attempted murder, arson, rape and sodomy. He faces life in prison.

The ordeal left the victim with a scarred face, severe burns, and liver damage from the over-the-counter pills she was forced to swallow by the fistfull.

Did no one hear her cries. Being held captive for 19 hours to endure all the above? This certainly calls for the DP, but will only get life. Hopefully, with no parole! :madranting94dp:

[Roamer]

Just when you think you've heard everything, something like this comes along.

I'm actually glad she doesn't have to face him in court, but IMO the defense will probably try to turn that to his advantage, saying he's trying to spare her the pain.

Pain seemed to be something he enjoyed, and the creep just turned coward. :madranting94dp:

[TigressPen]

It confounds me how we can still feel shock with what people are capable of doing. This case is horrendous and I hope this slime never walks free again. He should face the death penalty for his crime.

Bless this victim for her courage. :1222423:

[London Lass]

If he chooses not to show up, then he should be automatically found guilty, and get the maximum sentence...:madranting94dp:

[rem16]

BY BARBARA ROSS AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Updated Monday, June 9th 2008, 11:57 PM
Her arm scarred by burns, a former Columbia University student Monday pointed at a shackled ex-con and identified him as the monster who raped and tortured her during a 19-hour attack in her Manhattan apartment.

Then the 23-year-old victim told the court how she tried to strike back at Robert Williams after she "spotted the scissors laying next to the bed."

They were the same scissors that Williams - in a perverse fit of sadism - had forced her to use to shear off some of her long, brown hair, prosecutors said.

"When I got the chance to reach down, I grabbed them and tried to stab him in the neck," the woman said in Manhattan Supreme Court. "I barely made contact. He grabbed my hand and threw me in a corner."

Terrified and bleeding badly from her hand, the woman said she sobbed, "You're going to kill me."

"Shut up, I'm not going to kill you," he replied, she testified.

What Williams did next made her want to die, she said.

When she first walked into the courtroom, the sight of the suspect made her recoil and she had to compose herself before she could speak.

When she did, her voice was strong as she resumed her horrific description of what happened when a stranger invaded her Hamilton Heights studio on April 13, 2007.

Williams, 31, showed no reaction at first. It was when she spoke of trying to stab him he started squirming.

He continued to fidget as she described how Williams scalded her with boiling water.

Williams did not return to court after the lunch break. He did not hear her describe how her scalded skin "bubbled and boiled." He did not hear his accuser testify that he later tied her to a futon, covered her mouth to muffle her screams - and came at her with a knife.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/09/2008-06-09_columbia_torture_victim_identifies_defen.html

[NJ_Nurse]

Once I read about this horrendous 19 hour tortuous ordeal by Robert Williams to his victim, I wondered why there is no death penalty for situations like this. I have mixed feelings about the death penalty, but in this case, I believe it is called for. He committed unspeakable cruelty toward another human being.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-robert-williams-080610-ht,0,7800152.story

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/05/2008-06-05_unspeakable_horrors_as_trial_opens_in_to.html

[NJ_Nurse]

ATM CAM CAUGHT 'COLUMBIA RAPIST' BETWEEN TORTURES

NY Post By LAURA ITALIANO June 12, 2008

June 12, 2008 -- Here is some of the strongest evidence a Manhattan jury has seen against the violent ex-con now on trial in last year's shocking, 19-hour rape-torture of a Columbia University graduate student.

Manhattan prosecutors say this video shows sadist Robert Williams at a bodega one block away from where he'd left his victim drugged and bound with computer cables in the living room of her Hamilton Heights apartment on April 14, 2007.

At this point, as he allegedly tried unsuccessfully to use her ATM cards to withdraw her money, it is some 131/2 hours into her ordeal.

Williams, 31, has already repeatedly raped her, burned her face and body with bleach and boiling water, and tried to force her to gouge out her own eyes with scissors, jurors have been told.

"Stab your eyes out!" she testified he shouted as she lay cringing in her bathtub. "Just kill me!" she screamed as he poured boiling water over her torso, and her skin began to blister and bubble.

Then, as Williams allegedly tried to withdraw her cash at this bodega on 141st Street at St. Nicholas Avenue, the victim lay passed out on her futon, prosecutors say. Her wrists were each tied separately, with Ethernet cables, at one end of the wooden frame. Her ankles were tied together with luggage straps.

Before leaving, he'd forced her to swallow a handful of Extra-Strength Tylenol - "Enough to fill my mouth," she told jurors. Then he allegedly covered her head with a blanket, given to her by her grandmother, and ordered her, "Go to sleep."

He returned from the bodega empty-handed and furious, having failed in his attempt to steal her money, prosecutors say .

Her punishment? Desperate to blind the only eyewitness to his depravity, he allegedly slashed at the woman's eyes with a butcher knife, cutting clear through her eyelids but miraculously sparing her eyes. "Open your eyes! Both of them!"

As he sliced at her, she screamed through the gags around her mouth, "Just kill me!"

"You wanted to die, right?" would be his parting words. "He put the blanket over my head again," she said. "I screamed until I passed out.

Through incredible courage and savvy, she was able to escape a fire he's charged with setting directly below the futon - using the flames to melt the computer cables that bound her.

Williams - who, before his arrest, had split his time living in the same Hamilton Heights neighborhood, various homeless shelters and behind bars - faces a likely lifetime in prison if jurors find him guilty based on this video, two incriminating DNA samples and the victim's compelling testimony.

For story including ATM photos:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06122008/news/regionalnews/an_evil_interlude_115143.htm

[NJ_Nurse]

Trial spotlights NYC rape-torture victim's resolve

USA Today June 14, 2008

NEW YORK (AP) — Her voice never faltered as she described an attack so demonic that at one point, she begged to die.

With poise and precision, the 24-year-old woman told jurors this week about being raped repeatedly, scalded with boiling water and slashed across her eyelids during 19 unthinkable hours in her Upper Manhattan apartment. She paused to compose herself once, briefly, during six hours of testimony that made some jurors dab at their eyes.

The resolute, clear-thinking woman on the witness stand had shown the same traits during her ordeal. She memorized details about her torturer while trying to elicit his empathy — even asking about his taste in music — and trying to convince him she wouldn't identify him to authorities. Drugged, bound and left to die in a fire her attacker set, the Columbia University graduate student managed to use the flames to burn through some of her restraints and escape what might have become her crematorium.

The details stunned many in the courtroom and led others to wonder how she had survived, let alone how she could provide such vivid testimony.

But experts say the case illustrates the mental toughness some rape victims can summon and a tactic some use to survive: They try to connect with their attackers in the hope of awakening compassion or gathering clues.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: iPod | Columbia University | New York University | Bob Dylan | Robert Williams | Upper Manhattan | Arnold Levine

"When your life is at stake, you're going to get resources you never even knew you had," says Madeline Lee Bryer, a New York lawyer who represents rape victims in civil cases. She started her practice after being attacked in the 1970s.

The man accused of attacking the former graduate student is Robert Williams, 31, on trial on kidnapping, rape, arson and other charges. Williams, who previously served eight years in prison for attempted murder, faces a possible life sentence if convicted in the April 2007 assault.

Williams' lawyer, Arnold Levine, argued unsuccessfully that his client was mentally unfit to stand trial. He did not present an opening statement, did not cross-examine the victim, and he has not said what kind of defense he is planning.

Prosecutors say Williams' DNA was found on the victim and her clothing, her DNA was found on his clothing, and security camera images show Williams trying to withdraw money with the woman's ATM card.

The victim expressed no doubt that Williams was her torturer as she pointed him out in court Monday. She testified that she had taken mental snapshots of his scars and even his gold left canine tooth, focusing on features she thought would best help police identify him.

Prosecutors and victims' advocates say rape victims vary widely in their ability to retain details of the crime. For many, identifying the rapist isn't an issue; federal studies have shown about 80% of victims, unlike the Columbia student, know their attackers.

But stress can sharpen memories, making them "more salient and lasting," said New York University psychology and neuroscience professor Elizabeth A. Phelps.

The details of the graduate student's rape are hard for anyone to forget. The woman testified that after Williams followed her off an elevator and claimed to be looking for a nonexistent neighbor, he strong-armed his way into her fifth-floor apartment.

He ordered her to take off her clothes and he raped her immediately. He went on to throw bleach at her eyes and glue her lips together, forced her to hack off her hair and swallow fistfuls of painkillers, and ordered her to gouge out her eyes with scissors, she said. He hurled boiling water and bleach at her when she refused, she said.

Prosecutor say Williams started the fire and left only after the victim had passed out from pain. They said they think he left then only because he was no longer able to exercise power over another human being.

The woman suffered burns, liver failure and other injuries that led to weeks in hospitals and months of physical therapy.

During the assault, she screamed and sobbed in fear and agony, implored him to kill her and tried to impale her neck with a pair of scissors to end her life herself.

But she also strategized, telling Williams she wouldn't call police and pretending the bleach had blinded her, she said. To convince him, she said, she made sure not to avoid obstacles as he dragged her around the apartment.

The woman also tried to make personal contact with the rapist.

When a Bob Dylan song popped up on her iPod as Williams rifled through her electronics, the victim asked whether he liked the singer-songwriter, she testified.

Williams gruffly replied that he didn't know who Dylan was, she said.

Later, when she asked her attacker his name, he told her to shut up.

"I wanted to have some kind of human contact, so he wouldn't kill me," she explained.

She even deployed some dark sarcasm, at one point asking if he was still looking for the bogus neighbor.

"I just wanted to remind him that he broke into my apartment and started raping me," she testified.

While some rape victims freeze in fear, others — as the graduate student did — try to engage their attackers.

Whole story: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-14-student-torture_N.htm

[grammybears]

I thought I had read earlier today , not sure where but I thought I had read he was aquitted. I will have to go search and see if I can find the actual article. How horrible for this girl to have gone on and then to have the perp aquitted. We all see our share of trials when you have to wonder what was going on in the minds of the jurrors.

[rem16]

I thought I had read earlier today , not sure where but I thought I had read he was aquitted. I will have to go search and see if I can find the actual article. How horrible for this girl to have gone on and then to have the perp aquitted. We all see our share of trials when you have to wonder what was going on in the minds of the jurrors.

I don't think this is true, as it would have been in the NY papers.. Here is the latest article they printed in the Post.


AN EVIL INTERLUDE
ATM CAM CAUGHT 'COLUMBIA RAPIST' BETWEEN TORTURES

June 12, 2008 -- Here is some of the strongest evidence a Manhattan jury has seen against the violent ex-con now on trial in last year's shocking, 19-hour rape-torture of a Columbia University graduate student.

Manhattan prosecutors say this video shows sadist Robert Williams at a bodega one block away from where he'd left his victim drugged and bound with computer cables in the living room of her Hamilton Heights apartment on April 14, 2007.

At this point, as he allegedly tried unsuccessfully to use her ATM cards to withdraw her money, it is some 131/2 hours into her ordeal.

Williams, 31, has already repeatedly raped her, burned her face and body with bleach and boiling water, and tried to force her to gouge out her own eyes with scissors, jurors have been told.

"Stab your eyes out!" she testified he shouted as she lay cringing in her bathtub. "Just kill me!" she screamed as he poured boiling water over her torso, and her skin began to blister and bubble.

Then, as Williams allegedly tried to withdraw her cash at this bodega on 141st Street at St. Nicholas Avenue, the victim lay passed out on her futon, prosecutors say. Her wrists were each tied separately, with Ethernet cables, at one end of the wooden frame. Her ankles were tied together with luggage straps.

Before leaving, he'd forced her to swallow a handful of Extra-Strength Tylenol - "Enough to fill my mouth," she told jurors. Then he allegedly covered her head with a blanket, given to her by her grandmother, and ordered her, "Go to sleep."

He returned from the bodega empty-handed and furious, having failed in his attempt to steal her money, prosecutors say .

Her punishment? Desperate to blind the only eyewitness to his depravity, he allegedly slashed at the woman's eyes with a butcher knife, cutting clear through her eyelids but miraculously sparing her eyes. "Open your eyes! Both of them!"

As he sliced at her, she screamed through the gags around her mouth, "Just kill me!"

"You wanted to die, right?" would be his parting words. "He put the blanket over my head again," she said. "I screamed until I passed out.

Through incredible courage and savvy, she was able to escape a fire he's charged with setting directly below the futon - using the flames to melt the computer cables that bound her.

Williams - who, before his arrest, had split his time living in the same Hamilton Heights neighborhood, various homeless shelters and behind bars - faces a likely lifetime in prison if jurors find him guilty based on this video, two incriminating DNA samples and the victim's compelling testimony.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06122008/news/regionalnews/an_evil_interlude_115143.htm

[NJ_Nurse]

Hi Rem. I posted the above article on June 12. See page 1 of this thread.

The trial of Robert Williams is still very much in progess.

Here is an article published late Friday in the NY Daily News at 11:50pm:

Torture victim pics move jurors to tears

BY BARBARA ROSS and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

One female juror wept silently. Another bit down on her balled-up fist to keep from crying. The third looked ready to cry.

And some of the male jurors hid their faces in their hands Friday after viewing 14 emergency room photographs of a Columbia journalism student who had been raped and tortured for 19 hours.

"She was in a very extreme state," said Lucien Monteau, a member of the sexual assault response team at Harlem Hospital who took the gruesome photographs. "Very bloodied, burned."

There was evidence, Monteau testified, to support prosecutors' charge that the 23-year-old victim had been violated "in every way imaginable, and in some ways unimaginable."

Still, he said, the torture did not break her.

"She had a remarkable spirit, if I might add," Monteau said.

Only the jury presiding over the trial of Robert Williams got to see the photographs in court. The 31-year-old suspect was a no-show again.

A court officer told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman that Williams would only come if he could wear his prison jumpsuit pulled up over his head. Berkman refused.

An ex-con who did time for shooting another man in the back, Williams is charged with 71 criminal counts, including attempted murder, arson, rape and sodomy - and faces life in prison if convicted.

The photographs, shown on a big-screen TV turned in the direction of the jury, showed the victim with blood in her eyes and burns on her face, arms and inner thighs.

Other photographs showed the marks left on her wrists and hands from being bound - and her hair singed from the sadist's failed attempt to cover up the crime by torching her apartment while she lay tied to a futon.

Earlier in the week, the victim told the court Williams tried to blind her with bleach, scalded her body with boiling water, made her cut off her own hair - and demanded she gouge out her eyes before slicing her eyelids.

Her ordeal ended only after she blacked out - finally overcome by the overdose of painkillers she was force-fed - and her torturer lost interest.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/13/2008-06-13_torture_victim_pics_move_jurors_to_tears-1.html

[rem16]

Ooops, I missed that NJ Nurse..this case is so horrendous. The victim was and is so strong. I'm sure this demon of a person thought he would never get caught. He should go to prison for life.

[NJ_Nurse]

ITA, REM. I bet everything I have that when the case finally goes to the jury, it'll be a slam dunk GUILTY after a short deliberation. On the 71 counts he is charged with, I think he will received life in prison.

I think we will hear soon after his incarceration that unless he is isolated, he will be "worked over good" by inmates who have their own code of ethics in dealing with people even THEY consider total monsters.

That young woman is a role model of bravery and strength. May God give her the very best of life from here on in.

[NJ_Nurse]

Brave torture victim will be back in court for verdict

BY BARBARA ROSS and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Thursday, June 12th 2008, 9:58 PM

The Columbia journalism student raped and tortured in her Manhattan apartment for 19 hours will face her alleged attacker at least one more time - when the jury hands down its verdict.

"She's the bravest human being I know," said one of the senior detectives on the case, who confirmed the 23-year-old victim would be coming back.

With the trial of Robert Williams expected to go another week, she has time to muster the courage she found on Monday, when she identified him as her brutalizer. He was a no-show in court Thursday. Meanwhile, the super of the Hamilton Heights building where the attack took place on April 13, 2007, testified he met the victim the summer before.

"She came with her parents and she was so excited about the apartment," said Carl Peroune, 71.

When the young woman from apartment 5-K knocked on his door after the attack, "I didn't recognize her," he said through his tears. "She was crying and screaming. She was saying, 'Please help me! Please help me! Somebody has raped me.'"

Peroune added that "she was bleeding from the eyes." The victim testified that Williams sliced her eyelids after he tried and failed to blind her with bleach. She said he also burned her with scalding water, made her swallow so many pain relievers her liver nearly failed and demanded she gouge out her eyes before tying her to a futon - and setting it ablaze.

Williams, who served eight years in jail for attempted murder, is charged with 71 criminal counts, including attempted murder, arson, rape and sodomy. He faces life in prison if convicted.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/12/2008-06-12_brave_torture_victim_will_be_back_in_cou.html

[NJ_Nurse]

Video of accused Columbia student torturer's body scars shown to jury

BY BARBARA ROSS and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Tuesday, June 17th 2008, 12:25 AM

A body of evidence was introduced Monday at the trial of an ex-con accused of raping and torturing a Columbia journalism student - and it belonged to the man charged with the heinous crimes.

Videotape of 31-year-old Robert Williams completely exposed, taken shortly after his arrest, was played in court for the jury.

The victim's sister put down her knitting and watched as the camera silently - and in vivid color - zeroed in on the scars covering Williams' slender frame.

"That's it! That's it!" the sister whispered to her mother when the camera stopped at a small but distinctive oval scar with a gash through it on the right side of Williams' torso.

Det. Kenneth Fiol of the Manhattan Special Victims Squad testified the 23-year-old victim memorized that scar and several others on Williams' body during her 19-hour ordeal.

Not only did she describe them in detail, "she actually grabbed the pen from my hand and drew" one of them while still in the emergency room after the April 2007 attack, Fiol said.

The jury, who reacted with horror and tears last week when they were shown 14 photographs of the brutalized victim taken in the hospital, did not display the same revulsion upon seeing Williams' body.

Even the sight of Williams lowering his plaid boxers and the camera examining his genitals did not provoke any strong reaction from them.

The last shot on the videotape was of a gold-capped left canine tooth that the victim also described to cops.

Williams, who is charged with 71 criminal counts, including attempted murder, arson, rape and sodomy - and faces life in prison - refused again to come to court. The woman he allegedly brutalized also was not in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The video began with a shirtless Williams taking off his socks and pulling down his jeans.

The camera captured the scars on the back of Williams' shaved skull, near an elbow, and a large nasty scar that runs from his belly button up towards his chest - all of which the victim described to investigators, Fiol said.

The victim also told police that Williams tried to blind her with bleach, scalded her body with boiling water, made her cut off her own hair - and demanded she gouge out her eyes before slicing her eyelids.

Her ordeal ended only after she blacked out - overcome by the overdose of painkillers she was force-fed.

Before fleeing the victim's Hamilton Heights studio, Williams allegedly tried to cover up the crime by setting it ablaze while she lay bound to a futon frame.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/16/2008-06-16_video_of_accused_columbia_student_tortur.html

[rem16]

By Barbara Ross
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, June 18th 2008, 1:25 AM

The fate of an ex-convict accused of viciously raping and torturing a Columbia University graduate student will soon be in the hands of the jury.

Jurors will hear the last witness tomorrow and begin deliberating next week, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman said Tuesday.

Robert Williams is accused of following the young journalism student into her Hamilton Heights apartment in April 2007 and holding her captive for 19 hours before setting her ablaze.

Yesterday, lead detective Kenneth Fiol said the petite 23-year-old victim was "nervous," "sweating" and "breathing heavy" when she was brought in for a lineup two months after the attack. It was her first glimpse of Williams, 31, since the ordeal.

"She placed her hands on her head like this," he said, pushing his palms into both cheeks.

Defense attorney Arnold Levine attacked Fiol's methods, suggesting through questions that cops put other African-American men in the lineup who were considerably taller, heavier or shorter than Williams.

The defendant, who has repeatedly refused to come to court, was absent again Tuesday.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/17/2008-06-17_columbia_torture_trial_nears_end-1.html

[NJ_Nurse]

Thanks Rem. I got busy today and did not have time to post the update. I can't wait to see this guy get sentenced hopefully to totally life in prison.

[grammybears]

I apologize for my previous post. It must have been another trial. The old brain does not work like it should.
I pray that there is justice in this case. The victim has been to hell and back. She is one brave person and she deserves all the good things life has to offer her.

[NJ_Nurse]

SKETCH THAT NAILED IVY RAPE SUSPECT

NY Post By LAURA ITALIANO June 18, 2008 --

As a Columbia University student lay in critical condition hours after her rape and torture ordeal, she bravely drew for cops the distinctive scar she saw on her attacker's body.

The second-degree burns the fiend inflicted were agonizing.

Still, even after 19 hours of rape and torture, the brave 23-year- old was determined to help catch the man who'd nearly killed her.

Grabbing a pencil out of the hand of Detective Kenneth Fiol, the top investigator on the case, she demanded to draw the scar in the cop's own notes.

The victim's drawing - made available to reporters yesterday - would within the week aid in the capture of Robert Williams, the 31-year-old violent ex-con whose trial is wrapping up in Manhattan.

She'd memorized the unusual mark - a small, bisected oval on the fiend's right abdomen - as he raped her after pushing his way inside her Hamilton Heights apartment in April 2007.

A week would pass before Williams, 31, was busted in Queens in an unrelated robbery. An eagle-eyed cop noticed the odd oval scar along with other distinctive markings - a gold tooth, a scar on the back of his head - committed to memory by the victim.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06182008/news/regionalnews/sketch_that_nailed_ivy_rape_suspect_116043.htm

[NJ_Nurse]

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 by Vera

Disqualified from human race?

Stories like these occasinally make me wonder whether I am wrong in my disapproval of death penalty.

Short summary: Robert Williams forced his way into a woman's apartment, raped and tortured her for 19 hours, threw bleach in her face, slashed her, made her swallow lots of Tylenol (she did, and it caused liver failure), tried to make her gouge her own eyes out with a knife (she didn't, try to kill herself instead, failed), then when she lost consciousness, tied her down, set her apartment on fire and left. She regained consciousness, melted her restraints on the fire, and escaped. He, being apparently way on the wrong side of the IQ bell curve, immediately used her ATM card in an ATM with a video camera, and was arrested a week later during a burglary in Queens.

It's not that I think that all rapists should be killed. I am sure that most rapist are just people like everyone else (uhm, not really) and that after a few years of prison most of them are capable of understanding that what they did was wrong, or in any case that the price/performance ratio of this kind of fun is rather poor.

It's when rape becomes one of the least serious crimes on the list that I start wondering whether they should be in fact disqualified from human race for shoving.

Let's see what else Mr. Williams has accomplished in his 31-year-old life. Apart from raping, torturing, mutilating and trying to kill that particular woman:

- in 1996 he shot a neighbor 4 times while trying to rob him of a chain. The neighbor survived, and so, unfortunately, did Williams. He got 8 years for the effort.

- during the 8 years in prison, he has assaulted other inmates and guards, and thrown shit at people. He committed 28 infractions and was denied parole 3 times. In the end the parole board had to let him out. They wrote in his file "as a candidate for your release at this time, your readiness is in doubt" when they released him.

- he was also tried for attempted murder as a juvenile. The outcome of this trial is sealed, and I am sure some people are wrongly accused, but somehow I doubt he was a just choir boy in the wrong place.

- he has committed unprovoked assault on somebody in a street a couple of years ago.

- he was arrested six days after the rape, at he scene of a burglary in Queens. Just passing by, I am sure.

This is not a post in favor of death penalty, but I think it's quite enough here to figure out that this guy is never going to become a real person. Not to the point of deserving be released, and not to the point of deserving any human contact. I just hope that when he is convicted, they put him in a single cell. Your average rapists and murderers don't deserve that for a roommate.

(Yes, I am aware that I am getting ahead of the events, and he is just a suspect so far. However, when a suspect has been identified by the victim, a neighbor and an ATM camera, and left some of his DNA on the scene, I think I am justified in making an educated guess on the outcome of the trial.)


http://izrailit.blogspot.com/2008/06/disqualified-from-human-race.html

[NJ_Nurse]

Columbia Spectator

FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2008
UPDATE: Friday, June 20, 5:15 p.m.

Levine and Prunty held a conference with Judge Berkman today to determine which charges on which Williams was originally indicted would be submitted for the jury's consideration, and to agree upon the instructions Berkman would give to the jury.

The jury will hear closing arguments for the case and begin deliberations on Monday.


THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2008
UPDATE: Thursday, June 19, 4:30 p.m.

The prosecution rested its case today after hearing three witnesses testify. Williams again did not appear in court, as prompted twice by courtroom officers.

The first witness of the day was Dr. Roger Yurt, director of the Burn Center at New York Presbyterian Cornell Medical Center, who oversaw care of the victim. Yurt said the woman had second-degree burns over 12 percent of her body. Many of her burns were consistent with having had bleach and boiling water thrown on her, to which she testified earlier, Yurt said. He described her various treatments and surgeries, which he called “extremely painful.” Much of the scarring is permanent, Yurt testified, accompanied by photos of the victim following the attack.

The prosecution then recalled Mary Quigg, a forensic biologist who performed DNA analysis for the case and who gave partial testimony on Tuesday. DNA analysis concluded that a blood stain found on a black shirt Williams was wearing when he was arrested came from the victim, Quigg said. Quigg also said a gray T-shirt found in the victim’s apartment—which the victim testified Williams took from her closet and wore while raping her—contained a mixture of DNA from both Williams and the victim.

“The probability that it is not Robert Williams’ [DNA] is greater than a trillion to one,” Quigg said.

Levine cross examined Quigg as to the accuracy and randomness of her samplings. He questioned whether she could be sure the DNA found codes for independent genes, which is a requirement for probability analysis. Quigg said the genes are on the same chromosome but far enough apart to be assumed independent and unlinked of each other.

The prosecution’s last witness was Michael Mannion, a video technician for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Prunty showed him still photos of a man on a sidewalk, wearing a hood but with his face visible, which Mannion said he captured and enhanced from video surveillance. Levine questioned whether “enhancing” the image meant altering it.

After the People closed its case, Levine argued for the dismissal of several charges against Williams which he said prosecutors did not prove. One of the charges against Williams is second-degree arson, but Levine said it could not be proven Williams started the fire in the victim’s apartment, as the victim testified she regained consciousness only after Williams was gone and a fire had been lit.

Levine argued against numerous charges of assault with intent to cause serious physical injury, which he said is defined as “causing death or prolonged impairment.” The boiling water and bleach poured on the victim, as well as the painkillers the attacker forced her to ingest, did not harm at this standard, and no testimony was given to suggest this could have been the case, Levine said.

Prunty said charges of the use of a “dangerous instrument” and of intent to cause serious physical injury are contingent on the possibility for harm, not the actual result of harm caused. “She was entirely helpless, entirely defenseless,” Prunty said in reference to the arson charge.

Levine also said many of the charges were “multiplicitous” and referred to the same criminal act. Prunty maintained that many acts were separate due to prolonged interruptions between them.

Judge Berkman dismissed several of the approximately 60 charges due to lack of evidence, including predatory sexual assault with the use of a dangerous instrument.

Levine said he tentatively does not plan to call any witnesses or present evidence, though Judge Berkman asked him to inquire again whether Williams would like to testify. The attorneys will meet with Berkman tomorrow in absence of the jury to determine which charges will be submitted against Williams. Assuming Levine does not present evidence, the jury will return Monday morning to hear closing arguments and begin deliberations for a verdict.

http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/55174/toggle/sticky?destination=frontpage&token=3533f91daa9cab09c821c630d906a399

[NJ_Nurse]

MORE HORROR IN IVY RAPE

By LAURA ITALIANO NY Post June 29, 2008

June 20, 2008 -- A Manhattan jury yesterday heard more about the agonies suffered by a Columbia University graduate journalism student after her 19-hour ordeal of rape and torture.

Ex-con Robert Williams, 31, is charged with - among other near-fatal torments - throwing boiling water onto his victim's body as she cowered in her bathtub.

The woman suffered through agonizing skin grafts to her breasts, right arm, torso and thighs - along with a year of living in compression garments.

Her skin grafts will always look thick and discolored, New York Hospital chief of burn surgery Dr. Roger Yurt told jurors.

Testimony in the heinous case concluded yesterday with an expert from the city Medical Examiner's Office telling jurors that Williams' DNA was isolated on the victim's high-school basketball jersey - which he wore during the attack - and her DNA was found in a drop of blood on the shirt he was wearing when arrested.

Summations are set for Monday.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06202008/news/regionalnews/more_horror_in_ivy_rape_116390.htm

[NJ_Nurse]

The Face of Evil: Robert Williams' Troubled Past

Posted by Heather Muse at 11:39 AM, June 23, 2008 The Village Voice

If you've been reading the tabloids over the past few weeks, you really couldn't miss the coverage of the trial of Robert Williams, the monster (is there really any other way to describe him?) accused of raping and torturing a Columbia University graduate student last year.

The trial coverage has centered on two main narratives: the courage and ingenuity of the woman who managed to escape after 19 hours of being brutalized in utterly unimaginable ways and the complete lack of empathy or emotion shown by her alleged attacker. It is frequently noted in stories about the case that the defendant doesn't even show up to court some days.

Today's Post devotes a page to a story on the past of Robert Williams, where he was seen as a "bad seed" even in elementary school. There's a reason this story is coming out now. Summations in the trial are set for today, so there is no "new" news to report for today's edition of the paper. Many of the sources for the piece speak on condition of anonymity, as they are discussing sealed juvenile records.


So, what do we learn about Williams that hasn't already been covered in the shocking, sickening testimony of his trial? We learn that since he was a child, he's had a brutal cruel streak. A former teacher of his recalls a time that he grabbed a classmate by the arm, twisted it and wouldn't let go. After the teacher finally got him off the girl, he grinned. Readers learn about his days walking around his Hamilton Heights neighborhood "like a little midget drug dealer" and that his own grandmother feared him. We also learn that in 2003, Williams went from solitary confinement in prison straight to the outside world. At that point, Laura Italiano writes, he was "26 years old and [had] spent more of his teen and adult years inside prison than out."

When something as brutal as this attack happens, we want to have a reason for the evil perpetuated. It's a classic case of the nature vs. nurture myth (and I'm using "myth" not to mean fallacy, but as an eternal story) and in reading this piece, you can see both "roots" of evil taking shape. We need an explanation for these things, even if there really isn't one. It provides comfort in the face of the unknown. If we know there was a root of this evil, than the randomness of the attack can be explained.

As Jack Lule writes in his book Daily News, Eternal Stories, "myth must take on tasks too great for human logic and rationality." Knowing Williams was a "bad seed" provides a minor comfort.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2008/06/the_face_of_evi.php

[NJ_Nurse]

Prosecutor: NYC torture victim's word is good enough

By SAMUEL MAULL | Associated Press Writer
June 23, 2008

NEW YORK - A Manhattan prosecutor says a torture victim's identification of her attacker is proof enough to convict him. But the case also includes DNA evidence and eyewitnesses.

Assistant District Attorney Ann Prunty gave her closing statements Monday at the trial of Robert Williams, who is accused of raping and torturing the Columbia University graduate student over nearly 19 hours.

Earlier, Williams' lawyer said it was meaningless when the victim pointed out the defendant _ because anyone can see who's sitting at the defense table.

Responds the prosecutor: "You don't get a better opportunity to observe somebody than being with them for almost 19 hours."

Williams, who's 31, is being tried on 71 counts that include attempted murder, kidnapping, arson, rape and sodomy. He faces life in prison if convicted.


http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--gradstudent-tortu0623jun23,0,7265506.story

[NJ_Nurse]

Closing Arguments Delivered In Columbia Torture Trial

NY1 News June 23, 2008

Attorneys wrapped up their cases Monday in the trial of Robert Williams, charged with raping and torturing a Columbia University graduate student.

Williams faced 71 counts including kidnapping, arson, burglary, and sexual assault. But the judge Monday said that she would only submit 46 of the counts to the jury because some were not supported by evidence and others were redundant.

Prosecutors say Williams repeatedly raped and sodomized the 24-year-old woman during a 19-hour ordeal in April of last year.

During more than five hours of summations, the defense attorney told jurors not to let sympathy, hatred or revenge play a role in their final decision. He acknowledged that the victim suffered serious injuries, but that the jurors must uphold the law.

"The defense is that he is not the right man," said defense attorney Arnold Levine. "It's not the right guy. The DNA evidence is unreliable. The identification witnesses are unreliable."

During the trial, the victim pointed her attacker out in court and described the horrific details of the incident.

The defense attorney also claimed that his client was mentally unfit to stand trial.

"My position from the beginning is that he's unfit and not competent to be standing trial, so I take everything that he does and doesn't do in that context," said Levine. "I don't think there's much rational decision making on his part this whole case."

But the lead prosecutor maintains the suspect knew exactly what he was doing and enjoyed it.

Williams chose not to attend court the first day the victim testified, and refused to return after the lunch break on the second day. Neither he nor the victim was in court Monday.

He faces life in prison if convicted.

Jury deliberations commence Tuesday.

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=8&aid=82968

[rem16]

By BARBARA ROSS and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Updated Tuesday, June 24th 2008, 4:29 PM

The monster who raped and tortured a Columbia journalism student in her Manhattan apartment for 19 hours was convicted today.

Robert Williams, who has frequently played hooky from his own trial, was asleep in a holding pen above the Manhattan Supreme Court when the eight-man, four-woman jury rendered its verdict.

His 23-year-old victim sat in the front row, beside her mother, father and sister. Her eyes welled up with tears as the foreman said guilty 44 times, but she refused to cry.

After it was over, she left the court without a word.

Williams, 31, was charged with 46 criminal counts, including attempted murder, arson, rape and sodomy. The jury took just five hours to convict him of 44 counts. He faces life in prison when he is sentenced on July 24.

Williams might have gotten away with his crime had it not been for the victim's ferocious will to live.

Somehow, she managed to memorize the distinctive scars on Williams' body while he was in the midst of what Assistant District Attorney Ann Prunty called a "one man, 19-hour rampage during which he violated almost all of the laws that we, as a civilized society, have put in place."

Armed with that information, police were able to link Williams to the April 2007 atrocity.

In testimony that moved the shocked jury to tears, the victim described how Williams tried to blind her with bleach, scalded her body with boiling water, made her cut off her own hair - and demanded she gouge out her eyes before slicing her eyelids.

Her ordeal ended only after she blacked out - overcome by the overdose of painkillers she was force-fed.

Before fleeing the victim's Hamilton Heights studio, Williams tried to cover up the crime by setting it ablaze while she lay bound to a futon frame.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/24/2008-06-24_exconvict_found_guilty_in_the_rape_and_t.html

Now maybe the victim can get on with her life and the healing process.

[LiveLaughLuv]

Rem, I heard this last night on the news. I was elated.

What a brave woman to stand up to her torturer. :zm10:

He is beligerant, obstinate and doesn't deserve to breath free air. Sorry he couldn't die for what he did. LWOP is what I hope for. He will never be a value to society, he needs to stay in prison for the rest of his sorry life.

[NJ_Nurse]

Robert Williams found guilty on 44 counts in Columbia torture-rape case

By BARBARA ROSS and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Updated Tuesday, June 24th 2008, 9:19 PM

The monster who raped and tortured a Columbia student for 19 hours snoozed in a cell Tuesday while a jury convicted him of so many crimes he'll probably die in jail.

Robert Williams, who frequently played hooky from his trial, was asleep in a holding pen above the Manhattan Supreme Court when the eight-man, four-woman jury rendered its verdict.

His 23-year-old victim, her face pale, her clothes black, sat in the front row, beside her mother, father and sister. Her face was taut as jury foreman Thomas Sturrock said "guilty" 44 times, but she refused to cry.

When the jury left, she gave a small smile and left without a word on the arm of Homicide Detective Robert Mooney, who had arrested Williams' father decades ago.

"She is the bravest human being I ever met," Mooney said.

Williams, 31, was charged with 46 criminal counts, including attempted murder, arson, rape and sodomy. The jury took just five hours to convict him of 44 counts. He faces life in prison when sentenced July 24.

His lawyer, Arnold Levine, said Williams was sleeping on a bench when he went up to the 12th floor to break the news.

"He really didn't do anything differently than he ever does," he said. "He didn't have any more reaction to this than he did to anything else."

Jurors said the case against Williams was a slam-dunk.

"There was just too much evidence," said David Prince, an economics student at St. Johns University.

Another juror, Andrea Sepulveda, a 22-year-old college student wiped tears from her face and said she was amazed the victim found the courage to face Williams in court.

"I'm surprised she didn't break down," she said. "I was crying for her. I guess she had to be strong."

Williams might have gotten away with his crime had it not been for the victim's ferocious will to live - and her memory.

Despite raping her repeatedly, Williams never ejaculated and forced the victim to wash herself repeatedly. So other than her bloodstains on his T-shirt, and his DNA on one of her T-shirts, there was little physical evidence.

She managed to memorize the distinctive scars on Williams' body while he was in the midst of what Assistant District Attorney Ann Prunty called a "one-man, 19-hour rampage during which he violated almost all of the laws that we, as a civilized society, have put in place."

Armed with that information, police tracked down the ex-con.

In testimony that moved the shocked jury to tears, the victim described how Williams pushed his way into her Manhattan apartment on April 13, 2007, and turned it into a "torture chamber."

She described how Williams tried to blind her with bleach, scalded her with boiling water, sealed her lips with glue, made her cut off her own hair - and demanded she gouge out her eyes before slicing her eyelids.

Her ordeal ended only after she blacked out, overcome by the overdose of painkillers she was force-fed.

Before fleeing the victim's Hamilton Heights studio, Williams tried to cover up the crime by setting it ablaze while she lay bound to a futon frame.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/24/2008-06-24_robert_williams_found_guilty_on_44_count.html

Thanks, Rem, for the heads up!

[NJ_Nurse]

"Robert Williams was rarely present during his trial. He was forced to appear when the victim testified, so she could (and did) identify him. When the jury convicted him, he was not in the room. He was told of the verdict, and then he rolled over and went back to sleep. He is a true sociopath. I hope he gets LWOP."

More links to story & conviction: http://mylifeofcrime.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/breaking-news-robert-williams-convicted-of-horrific-torture-rape-and-attempted-murder/

Washington Times: http://www.washtimes.com/themes/people/robert-williams/

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/24/grad.student.torture.ap/index.html?iref=hpmostpop

ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=5240048

NY1: http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=8&aid=83004

[rem16]

An ex-convict was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for the sadistic, 19-hour rape and torture of a Columbia University graduate student.

Robert Williams was convicted last month in Manhattan of attempted murder, rape, kidnapping and arson. His actual sentence - 422 years - was pronounced by state Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman, who said that - for the sake of public safety - she doesn't ever want him to get out of prison again.

The victim identified Williams in court while testifying about her agonizing ordeal. He scalded her with boiling water; tried to blind her with bleach; forced her to swallow fistfuls of painkillers; and ordered to gouge out her eyes with scissors. He also glued her lips shut and gagged her with duct tape before torching her apartment.

"This is a person who relishes and derives fun from inflicting extreme physical pain on another human being. He enjoys torturing," Assistant District Attorney Ann Prunty said at the sentencing.

Defense attorney Arnold Levine said an appeal was planned and asked that Williams receive psychiatric treatment in prison. The defense had unsuccessfully tried to have him declared mentally unfit to stand trial.

Williams previously served eight years in prison for attempted murder. "Attempting to kill another human being is something he had done before and attempted to do again," said the prosecutor.

When the trial began June 5, Prunty told jurors Williams had violated the victim "in every way imaginable - and in some ways unimaginable," then tried to finish her off by burning her alive.

The evidence included the victim's DNA, found on a shirt Williams was wearing when he was arrested, and Williams' DNA on one of the woman's T-shirts.

His DNA was also on the victim's iPod earbuds, which Prunty said he kept as a "trophy."

Prunty credited the woman's intelligence and mental toughness with helping her survive. The judge agreed, saying: "Everyone who witnessed (the victim's) testimony in this courtroom had to be impressed by her bravery, her intelligence and her extraordinary grace."

During the April 2007 attack, the woman, who was a journalism student, began deliberately making mental notes. She started memorizing features and scars of her torturer while trying to connect with him - even asking about his taste in music - and trying to convince him she wouldn't identify him to authorities.

Tied up and left unconscious to die in the fire, the woman woke up and used the flames to burn through some of her restraints and escape what might have become her crematorium.

Williams fled when the woman fell unconscious; the prosecutor said he no longer had the sadistic pleasure of hearing her cry and scream when he hurt her.

The nearly three-week trial was unusual in that the defendant was in court just once for a few hours. He was forced to show up on the day the victim testified and pointed him out to the jury as her rapist and torturer.

Levine asked Berkman to "sentence him in a way to give him hope of going home one day." Replied the judge: "The defendant, by his own conduct, has forfeited any hope of liberty."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07242008/news/regionalnews/ex_con_gets_life_for_columbia_student_to_121393.ht m