'Something Does Not Add Up' in NYC Rape

Suspects are telling a very different story, questions surround woman's father
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 12, 2016 10:14 AM CST
'Something Does Not Add Up' in NYC Rape
This image from security video shows three suspects in the rape of an 18-year-old woman in Osborn Playground.   (New York Police Department via AP)

Police have charged four teens with first-degree rape after an assault on an 18-year-old woman in a Brooklyn playground—but "something does not seem to add up," says Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, citing "several unanswered questions as it relates to the behavior of the father." Police say the victim and her 39-year-old dad—described by neighbors as an alcoholic—were heavily intoxicated when approached by five teens on Thursday night, per the New York Times. It isn't clear under what circumstances the father fled; an initial report claimed the teens forced him away at gunpoint, but the victim says she didn't see a gun and the suspects deny having one. Authorities say the father threw a bottle at the suspects before returning with officers 12 minutes later. The woman, found alone and half-clothed, told police she was raped by at least one suspect and forced to perform oral sex on two, while all five touched her breasts.

"I was just really scared," the woman tells WABC. She says she screamed for help, but none came. The suspects are telling a vastly different story, according to the New York Daily News: They say they first found the woman having sex with her father, and that any sex was consensual; they're expected to plead not guilty in court on Tuesday. However, the woman's injuries "are consistent with being physically attacked," an officer says. Authorities have found no witnesses, though "distant video" shows five figures leaving the playground. Video also shows the victim and her father entering the park after buying beer around 9pm. Officials say the victim, who was raised by an adoptive family, only recently reconnected with her father. On Sunday, "he said, 'I have no idea what they’re doing around here,"" referring to reporters and cops, a neighbor says. "He said, 'I didn't do nothing.'" Officers are still seeking a fifth suspect. (More rape stories.)

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