The victim, who was not identified, said she has multiple sclerosis and told NBC that she was not formally interviewed by Trenton police until three weeks after the attack.
TRENTON — Raped and beaten in a vacant house here in December, a Hamilton woman is alleging that city investigators were slow about getting her version of events following the attack.
The woman gave her side of the story to NBCNewYork.com, which aired an investigative report on the attack this week.
The victim, who was not identified, said she has multiple sclerosis and told NBC that she was not formally interviewed by Trenton police until three weeks after the attack.
Both Trenton police and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office deny any mishandling of the case.
The prosecutor’s office has said the delay in interviewing the woman was because she was badly injured and could not communicate clearly enough to obtain a reliable statement.
Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s office, said the office was in regular contact with the victim and her mother immediately following the sexual assault.
“We seek to meet the needs of crime victims beginning at the point of victimization and continuing throughout their involvement in the criminal justice system and beyond,” DeBlasio said in a statement.
The woman said the attack occurred when she fell asleep on a bus Dec. 5 and missed her stop in Hamilton, according to the report. She got off the bus in downtown Trenton and started to search for a return trip when she was knocked unconscious, the report said.
She awoke in a vacant house on Farragut Avenue and said two men were raping her and one of them beat her, breaking her jaw, the report said. After the men fled, she wandered into the street but nobody would help her, the report said.
She reached Mario and Frank’s Pizzeria on Nottingham Way in Hamilton, and workers there called township police.
Trenton police file photo. Trenton police and DeBlasio said they could not confirm or deny the details of the woman’s report and would only say the investigation into the attack remains active.
Trenton Police Lt. Mark Keiffer said releasing any information about the incident might jeopardize any future prosecution of the case. No arrests have been made nor has a suspect been identified, DeBlasio said.
After the incident, the woman was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton and a rape exam was used to collect evidence, which has been sent for DNA testing, DeBlasio said.
TEST RESULTS BEING REVIEWED
The results of the tests are being reviewed by the New Jersey State Police Laboratory, DeBlasio said, adding that the DNA profile will be assessed to see if it matches any individuals in state and federal DNA databases.
DeBlasio said at the hospital, representatives from her office’s Special Victims Unit, a detective from the Hamilton Police division, a sexual assault nurse examiner and a rape-care advocate from a local women’s advocacy group were all present.
The victim and her mother were provided information regarding the available victim services and contact information for the detectives from both the police department and prosecutor’s office, DeBlasio said.
Preliminary information was obtained by Hamilton police on the evening of Dec. 5 and
the crime scene, the abandoned house in the city of Trenton, was identified two days later, DeBlasio said.
“At this point, Trenton police assumed the investigation from Hamilton,” DeBlasio said.
“The Trenton Police Crime Scene Unit processed and photographed the identified crime scene. The neighborhood also was canvassed for any video evidence and witnesses to the crime. Personal property of the victim, including a cloth purse, was located at the crime scene and returned to the victim by the Trenton police detective at the request of the victim and her mother.”
DeBlasio said if the victim or her mother has a complaint about the way they were treated, they should contact the Internal Affairs unit of any of the involved agencies.
The victim has not made such a request to the prosecutor’s office, DeBlasio said.
According to the NBC report, the woman says she was not formally interviewed about the
Dec. 5 incident until Dec. 23, by a Trenton detective and an investigator from the prosecutor’s office.
However, DeBlasio said the interview was conducted and a statement taken from the victim on Jan. 9 — shortly after the woman was released from the hospital.
In the televised report, the woman said investigators asked if she was a prostitute and drug addict, according to NBC New York.
She also alleges they questioned whether she actually suffers from multiple sclerosis, the report said.
DeBlasio attributes the delay in obtaining a formal statement from the woman to the fact that she required multiple surgeries and developed complications from those surgeries. DeBlasio said in order to obtain a statement, the victim must be able to communicate clearly and concisely.
A victim advocate from the prosecutor’s office made an unsuccessful attempt to contact the victim and her mother in February.
The prosecutor’s office was able to get in contact with the woman on Tuesday to notify her about the status of the DNA samples.
Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.
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