Tuesday, November 8, 2011

A black African immigrant from the Ivory Coast who convinced several women in Manhattan to go on dates with him by claiming that he was a renowned international journalist has been convicted of raping one of them and harassing and stalking others

The black African, Hugues-Denver Akassy, faces up to 25 years in prison for the rape of a Russian tourist in Riverside Park in 2010. The tourist fled after the attack, prosecutors said, and reported the rape to several men who were in the park. Akassy’s arrest on that charge led several other women to come forward and say that he had harassed or sexually assaulted them. In addition to the Russian tourist, Akassy, 43, was charged with victimizing four other women. He was convicted on charges in three of those cases. Glenn F. Hardy, who represented Akassy, said that jurors told him after the verdict that Akassy had hurt his case by testifying in his own defense. “They said that when he testified he basically blew the case,” Hardy said. “What happened is that after he testified, they found his story had enough holes that it convinced them to go back and reanalyze the evidence.”

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