A younger girl took the stand on the third day of accused-kidnapper Victor Pena’s trial Wednesday, breaking down the small print of the three days in 2019 when she was kidnapped and repeatedly assaulted.
On the night time of Jan. 19, 2019, she mentioned, she was 23 and simply having enjoyable together with her sister and their mates. They mingled at a 90’s theme social gathering in Dorchester, danced to a dwell band on the downtown bar Hennessy’s and drank.
Her reminiscence skips from being on the bar, “tipsy but having a good time,” to waking up the following morning trapped in an unfamiliar place.
Pena, 42, is being tried on one rely of kidnapping and 10 counts of aggravated rape, after he allegedly kidnapped the lady and assaulted her for 3 days earlier than the police arrived. He has pleaded not responsible to all fees.
The trial started Monday and continued Tuesday with testimony from witnesses who noticed the younger girl the night time of her abduction and regulation enforcement who discovered her. Pena elected to look at the continuing away from the courtroom over Zoom.
Pena, the lady mentioned, threatened her life that first morning when she tried to stand up and go away.
“I didn’t want to die,” mentioned the lady, answering questions in regards to the sexual assaults that adopted.
From that Sunday to Tuesday afternoon, she suffered excessive violations and lived below tight management – stored quiet, supplied canned fruit and practically no liquids, pressured to drink whiskey regardless of her Celiac illness, made to learn the Bible and photographed over 300 occasions.
Pena’s case, protection lawyer Lorenzo Perez mentioned beforehand, will hinge on his way of thinking and intent. Perez questions Wednesday targeted on how Pena talked throughout the interval in “tangential circles” and “rants.”
The girl was markedly composed via her testimony Wednesday, answering a number of preliminary inquiries about her household and life earlier than with distinct wry humor, however grew breathless and quiet for durations via the hours of intensive questioning.
She tried to ingratiate her method out of the state of affairs at first, the witness famous, suggesting they clear the condo collectively and talking Spanish to Pena. She then tried to flee whereas he slept however was caught repeatedly.
“Could I hit him? Could I stab him?” she recollected pondering on the time. “But what I was like thinking was that like, I only have one shot. This is a small apartment with a man who’s larger and probably stronger than I am. So whatever I had to do, I had to be 100% confident that it would work.”
On Tuesday, the primary signal of her impending freedom was the sound of helicopters. Then “loud,” “firm” knocking on the door. And the sound of a drill started to come back via the lock.
“Once the knocking began he got anxious, told me to be quiet,” she mentioned. Pena gave her her garments, then her keys and cellphone, which she hadn’t seen since Saturday night time. He tried to get her to alternate Whatsapp messaging data and made her message a buddy on Facebook that nothing was improper.
Then he opened the door.
She latched onto a cop and commenced to sob, she mentioned. Pena struggled with officers within the kitchen and restrained on the ground. That was the final time she noticed him.
Several regulation enforcement officers and a sexual assault nurse examiner additionally testified Wednesday, chatting with the proof assortment course of and the state of the lady after her rescue.
The trial comes as experiences of sexual assaults across the downtown space the place the 2019 abduction happened have risen considerably. Police have elevated patrols and partnerships with nightclubs within the space, however advocates beforehand acknowledged there’s extra to be executed to “match the scale and scope of the problem,” in response to Herald reporting.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”