VICTIM CONFRONTS CONVICTED RAPIST AT SENTENCING

Newsday/Bridget Murphy
2/20/14
Nashane Peterkin, 16, of Springfield Gardens, Queens, was arrested in connection with therape of a woman at Valley Stream State Park and a sexual assault near the village trainstation.  He was charged with first degree rape and second degree assault and strangulation inconnection with the assault of the woman in her 60s on September 2.  Police said he choked andbeat the victim, leaving her with broken ribs and a bruised face. 
Peterkin is also charged with the August 12 attempted rape of a woman who was walking onMill Road from the Long Island Rail Road’s Valley Stream station.  That woman, who wasseven months pregnant at the time told police as she was walking a man on a bicycle, grabbed her ashe rode by.  He attempted to rip off her shirt and pin her to the ground.  She was ableto fight him off and he fled on his bike.
As police released a sketch of the suspect, they said the same person was believed to beinvolved in another attack on August 12 that happened 20 minutes before the train stationattack.  A 58 year old Lynbrook woman told police the suspect approached her outside herhouse, punched her, pushed her into the house and attempted to take off her clothes.  The manfled on his bicycle as the woman screamed out to neighbors for help. 
Peterkin, now 17, pleaded guilty to two Valley Stream sex attacks.  The charges includefirst degree rape, committing a criminal sex act, strangulation and assault.  Nassau CountyJudge Angelo Delligatti said he planned to sentence him to 20 years in prison at a Februaryhearing.
The woman Peterkin raped in the woods in Valley Stream, breaking her nose and nearly all herribs, faced her attacker in court Thursday to tell him he hadn't broken everything.  I havediscovered an inner strength that has restored by dignity, the 61 year old victim said of the painand humiliation she'd overcome since the Labor Day weekend assault.  You told me not to telland yet I stand before you now stronger than ever, while your life has already become a livinghell, she told Peterkin before he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.  You'll have a lot oftime to think about the pain you inflicted on so many people, the woman continued, callingPeterkin a coward and bully who would go from predator to prey in prison.  As it says inthe Bible, a man reaps what he sows,” she said.
(New York)