Monster Gets 422 Years for 19-Hour Rape and Torture of Columbia Student
Barbara Ross and Bill Hutchinson, Daily News (New York), July 25, 2008
Calling the sex-torture of a Columbia student an “extraordinary evil,” an angry judge Thursday sent the sadistic rapist to jail for 422 years—and said he deserved more.
“The defendant, by his own conduct, has forfeited his right to liberty or to the hope of liberty,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman said of sex monster Robert Williams.
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The remorseless rapist, who had to be forcibly dragged into court, showed no emotion, sitting shackled at the defense table, his hands draped in protective mitts to prevent him from scratching anyone.
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The victim didn’t attend the sentencing, but wrote the judge a letter pleading for the maximum punishment.
A jury of eight men and four women convicted Williams last month on 44 counts of attempted murder, kidnapping, arson, rape, sodomy and burglary.
During the trial, the 23-year-old {snip} described how Williams followed her from the elevator to her apartment door, forcing his way inside and repeatedly raping her.
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Over 19 hours, Williams tortured the victim as she pleaded for her life. He blinded her with bleach, scalded her with boiling water, sealed her lips with crazy glue, made her cut off her hair—and demanded she gouge out her eyes before slicing her eyelids.
He capped his fiendish crime by setting her ablaze while she lay bound to a futon frame.
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While Williams can become eligible for parole in 50 years, Berkman said “the parole board should be aware that this is an extremely dangerous man, who has no regard for the safety or welfare of others or for any legal rule.”
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“Nothing I can say mitigates the crime,” said Levine [defense lawyer Arnold Levine], who plans to appeal. “Give him some hope of someday getting out. To do that is the humane thing to do.”
His argument fell on deaf ears.
[Editor’s Note: An earlier story on this crime can be read here.]
