A shocking crime recently took place in the usually quiet city of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The punishment for this horrific crime has proven to be even more shocking. Back in December 2016, 19-year-old Clarence Williams and 20-year-old Tommy Williams raped a 13-year-old girl inside of the Stonebrook Terrance complex. Disturbingly, besides Clarence and Tommy, other members of the Williams family also engaged in the crime. The other perpetrators of the December 19th gang rape include Tyron Williams, Jacolby Williams, James Williams, and an unidentified juvenile.
According to The Gazette newspaper, Tommy, Clarence, Jacolby, and Tyron were all charged with rape and forced to stand trial in early 2017. At first, all four faced the possibility of life sentences. However, as Fox News reports, Tommy and Clarence received very light sentences. Both Tommy and Clarence were sentenced to probation, with both being forced to register as sex offenders. The probation periods for both has been set at ten years, the maximum in Colorado.
The news of this sentence did not sit well with the victim's family. The unnamed girl's grandfather raged against the crime, telling the local media on April 3rd, "There was six of them and they gang-raped my granddaughter." All told, Tyron Williams received ten years of probation, while Jacolby Williams' trial is still ongoing.
The crime
KKTV in Colorado reported that the incident saw the victim and a few other female friends arrive at the Stonebrook Terrance apartment of a mutual friend. The purpose of the visit was to play video games. At some point, after the victim's friends left, she entered the apartment's bathroom. Here, two men entered the bathroom, grabbed the 13-year-old girl, and forced her to enter a bedroom already containing four men.
Here the young girl was sexually assaulted by six men for an unknown period of time.
The victim's grandmother told the court on Tuesday, April 3rd, that the victim was passed around between the men "like hands on a clock." The grandmother also made the tragic admission that her granddaughter is now unable to have children due to her assault.
Although Tyron Williams apologized for participating in the attack, he added as a caveat: "If I knew she was underage, it wouldn't have happened in the first place."
No word has yet been released on whether or not the victim's family accepted this apology.
Conflicting reports
The Gazette has written that this case almost fell through due to contradictory evidence. Namely, the victim often provided sketchy or conflicting reports to police. At one point she even claimed that she left the apartment before any assault had occurred. An eyewitness also told investigators that the victim never showed up at the apartment in the first place.
During the trial, defense attorneys highlighted the fact that the victim struggled to identify the make, color, and model of the car she rode to the apartment complex in.
Also, although the girl said that DNA evidence had proven that she had been raped, the prosecution admitted that DNA had been collected in the case. What ultimately broke the case for police was the fact that Clarence and Tommy Williams admitted to having sex with the girl on the night in question.
