BRONX MAN INDICTED IN TWO BRUTAL ATTACKS: SEXUAL ABUSE, STRANGULATION AND ATTEMPTED RAPE OF 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL; ROBBERY AND SEXUALLY MOTIVATED FELONY OF WOMAN

Defendant Allegedly Knocked Victims Unconscious 

  Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been indicted in two attacks in which he knocked the victims unconscious. In one attack, he is charged with Assault, Attempted Rape and various other charges for breaking the jaw of a 15- year-old girl near Bronx Park in October. 

  District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant allegedly brutally beat this young girl, inflicting severe injuries that she continues to recover from. She fought very hard against her attacker and we will fight just as hard to get justice for her, and for the second victim who suffered a vicious beating when he allegedly robbed her cell phone.” 

  District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Shaun Lewis, 27, of Lurting Avenue, is charged in a 21-count indictment. For the October 24, 2016 incident, he is charged with two counts of first-degree Assault, first-degree Attempted Rape, first-degree Sexual Abuse, first degree Attempted Sexual Abuse, second-degree Assault, second-degree Strangulation, third degree Attempted Rape, Forcible Touching, Criminal Obstruction of Breathing or Blood Circulation and Endangering the Welfare of a Child. 

  Lewis is also charged in the indictment with first-degree Robbery, four counts of Sexually Motivated Felony, second and third-degree Robbery, and second- and third-degree Assault for an April 21, 2016 cell phone robbery of a woman in the Bronx who was knocked unconscious and awoke with her pants removed. 

  Lewis was arraigned today, December 6, 2016 before Bronx Supreme Court Justice William Mogulescu. He was remanded and is due back in court on March 7, 2017. Lewis faces up to 25 years in prison on the top count in each incident if convicted. At the time of the attacks, he was on parole after serving time for a robbery in which he beat a woman.

  District Attorney Clark said that according to the investigation, on the early morning of October 24, 2016, Lewis allegedly exposed himself to the girl and demanded she “touch it” while in the vicinity of Bronx Park. 

  According to the investigation, when the girl refused, Lewis allegedly beat her and choked her into unconsciousness. When she awoke her pants and underwear had been removed. He then grabbed her breast before she was able to flee. 

  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Jill Starishevsky, a Senior Trial Assistant in the Child Abuse/ Sex Crimes Bureau under the supervision of Joseph Muroff, Chief of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau. 

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.