"Video shows beach sex assault, Fla. police say" Associated Press April 13, 2015
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. — Two college students from Alabama’s Troy University have been suspended after authorities discovered a cellphone video that allegedly shows them sexually assaulting a woman at a beach while a large crowd of spring-break revelers watches.
Are they sure it is real?
Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen called the video the ‘‘most disgusting, sickening thing’’ he had ever seen. He said the footage shows several men surrounding an incapacitated woman on a beach chair.
The victim told authorities that she thought she had been drugged at the time, and she did not remember the incident well enough to report it....
Authorities have released few details of the assault, which they say happened sometime between March 10 and March 12 but was only recently uncovered while university police were investigating a shooting.
The sheriff’s office released a short video of the crowd they said was present at the time. The recording shows a seemingly normal day at the beach for dozens of spring breakers goofing off and standing around talking about Instagram. At one point, a few people cheer, but it’s unclear why.
A sheriff’s spokeswoman said the video was released ‘‘to show the crowd that was surrounding the incident and to show people, not only was it a horrible event, but it was witnessed by so many people who did absolutely nothing to stop or call police.’’
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"Alleged sex assault victim wants defendants freed, lawyer says" by Laura Crimaldi Globe Staff April 14, 2015
SALEM — The 16-year-old Saugus girl who prosecutors say was sexually assaulted in an attack that was recorded and disseminated on the messaging service Snapchat will be summoned to court to testify about whether her alleged assailants should be released pending trial, an Essex Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday.
The summons was requested by a defense lawyer for Kailyn Bonia, 19, of Saugus, who said that the girl wrote a letter in which she said what transpired on the Snapchat video was consensual and that her friends should be freed. A lawyer for Bonia’s codefendant, Saugus resident Rashad Deihim, 20, also sought a summons for the girl, but his request was not acted on Tuesday.
“The court [system] is treating my friends like [rapists]. That is gross. I miss my friends,” reads the handwritten letter, dated Jan. 29 and filed in court.
“No one [raped] me [and/or] kidnapped or drugged me,” says the letter, which was signed. “Everything that happened was consented.” The Globe does not publish the names of alleged sexual assault victims.
Bonia and Deihim are accused of attacking the girl on Sept. 3 behind Waybright Elementary School in Saugus. They have pleaded not guilty to charges including assault to rape, kidnapping, and indecent assault and battery on a person over 14.
A third person, Timothy Cyckowski, 18, of Saugus, is accused of videotaping the alleged assault using Snapchat, and then distributing the video clips. Cyckowski, who was 17 when he was arrested, is being tried as a youthful offender in juvenile court and has pleaded not guilty. His father, Matthew, 38, is accused of destroying evidence — a charge he denies.
He buried it in the park.
Lawyers for Deihim and Bonia presented the letter in court and asked the girl be summoned to testify because they want Judge John T. Lu to reconsider his Oct. 24 decision to hold their clients without bail under the state’s dangerousness statute.
In an interview, Bonia’s lawyer, James Caramanica, said the girl wrote the letter in the presence of one of his client’s friends. That person then provided the letter to him, he said.
The girl “is distraught that this has taken on a life of its own,” Caramanica said. “It’s a little frustrating because it seems like the Commonwealth doesn’t want her to appear before the court.”
Some prosecutor sees a notch on the old resume, 'eh?
Lu ordered the summons, but a hearing date has not been set for him to reconsider his bail order.
Essex Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall said she does not know how the order will be delivered because the girl is on the run from the state Department of Children and Families and is the subject of a warrant as a child in need of assistance.
MacDougall said that since the letter surfaced, the girl has telephoned her and a detective investigating the case. She said the girl has little memory of what happened and that the case against Deihim and Bonia relied mostly on video evidence.
“I think it’s a little concerning that we’re going to question [the girl] about conditions of release for . . . these defendants,” she said. “They’re not being held simply as a danger to [her]. They’re being held as a danger to the public.”
Authorities learned of the alleged attack after another 16-year-old girl received four Snapchat videos of the encounter from Timothy Cyckowski and showed them to her parents, who called police, court records show. That girl also took screen shots of the video clips as they played on her phone, prosecutors said. The Snapchat program causes messages to vanish within seconds of arriving.
Prosecutors said the girl in the video was so intoxicated that she could not speak or stand up and had injuries from her neck down. At one point she tried to flee, but she was dragged back by Deihim and Bonia, prosecutors have said.
Lab tests showed she had alcohol, Oxycodone, and Tetrahydrocannabinol, a chemical in marijuana, in her system, court records show.
“The testimony was she nearly died as a result of this event,” MacDougall said.
The letter ascribed to the alleged victim by defense lawyers says that when she is heard saying no on the video, she is objecting to being recorded.
It looks like she just wants to forget it.
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Also see: Saugus Sex Assault
NDUs:
Trial date set for suspect in kidnap, rape of teen
High schools adopt programs on sex assault awareness
UPDATE:
"Saugus teens accused of rape released on bail; Alleged victim denies assault in social media case" by Jan Ransom Globe Staff April 27, 2015
SALEM — The families of two Saugus residents accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in September embraced one another inside a courtroom Monday after a judge said the defendants could be released to home confinement.
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Moments after Judge John T. Lu rendered his decision, Kailyn Bonia, 19, turned around to her relatives in the courtroom and smiled, then turned to Rashad Deihim, 20, giving him a thumbs-up sign.
“I’ve been waiting for this for months,” said Bonia’s mother, Christine. “It’s been awful. We knew from the beginning it was blown out of proportion.”
Bonia said that once her daughter is released, she will take her out to eat.
“I’m so happy,” she said.
Deihim’s mother, Nadia Mahboula, 49, cried.
“He’s innocent. . . . They’re just kids,” she said standing beside Deihim’s father, Fardad Deihim. “Seven months just wasted. It was horrible.”
Mahboula said the time her son has spent behind bars has been rough. He was bullied and called a rapist, she said.
“He said, ‘Mom, I don’t belong here,’ ” Mahboula recalled her son saying.
“His family is just relieved he’ll be able to come home,” Deihim’s attorney David C. Newton said. “He’s always professed his innocence.”
Prosecutors said the victim in the video was heavily intoxicated. Lab tests revealed she had alcohol, oxycodone, and tetrahydrocannabinol, a chemical in marijuana often referred to as THC, in her system, court records show.
Essex Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall told the court that the victim “remembers having some sexual contact that was consensual with Ms. Bonia, but she does not remember Deihim.” MacDougall said the victim indicated that she blacked out for periods during the assault.
A third person, Timothy Cyckowski, 18, of Saugus, faces charges for allegedly videotaping the assault using Snapchat and later distributing the video clips.
Cyckowski is being tried in juvenile court because he was 17 when he was arrested. He has pleaded not guilty. His father, Matthew, 38, who is charged with destroying evidence, has also pleaded not guilty.
Authorities were first contacted by another 16-year-old girl who had received four Snapchat videos of the attack from Cyckowski.
The girl took screenshots of the video clips, which she showed to her parents, who alerted police, according to court records. Snapchat causes messages to vanish within seconds of arriving.
Bonia and Deihim are due back in court for their trial Aug. 10.
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Hope you will understand if I stop watching now.
UPDATE:
"Saugus teen admits to sharing sex assault video on Snapchat" by Andy Rosen Globe Staff March 14, 2016
A Saugus teenager pleaded guilty Monday to sharing a video on the social network Snapchat that showed the sexual assault of an intoxicated 16-year-old girl.
Timothy Cyckowski, 19, admitted to his role in the 2014 case during an appearance in Lynn Juvenile Court, according to the Essex district attorney’s office. He had been accused of recording the attack.
Two other Saugus residents are accused in the case and are scheduled for trial May. 2 Rashad Deihim, 21, and Kailyn Bonia, 20, are both charged with kidnapping, posing a child in the nude, assault to rape, and indecent assault and battery.
The alleged assault took place behind Waybright Elementary School in Saugus on Sept. 3, 2014....
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