Published: May 15, 2008 01:28 am            

COURTS: Witnesses describe 'scary' scene in alleged home invasion

During testimony Wednesday in Niagara County Court, several witnesses described a chaotic and frightening scene inside a Locust Street apartment during an alleged home invasion last year.

The trial of Rakeem Golson, 17, of Evans Street, and Antonio Clark, 20, of Prospect Street, entered its second day of testimony.

Golson and Clark are accused of storming into the apartment in the early morning hours of April 3, 2007, and robbing and assaulting one woman and threatening a man in the apartment.

They are each charged with five counts of first-degree burglary, six counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of fourth-degree conspiracy, two counts of second-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree assault and one count of second-degree burglary.

One victim, 19-year-old Sara G. Heal, testified Monday that she was shoved in the bathroom and assaulted. After the incident, Heal was treated at Lockport Memorial Hospital for blood loss.

On Wednesday, the jury heard testimony from Shawn Pittler, who said he was in the apartment during the incident.

Pittler said he was playing video games when he received a call from Amy L. Bower, a co-defendant who has already pleaded guilty to fourth-degree conspiracy.

Pittler told the jury Bower asked him if she could buy a pound of marijuana. He said he hung up the phone, and about 15 minutes later, she showed up at the apartment and again requested marijuana.

He said she came inside, bought marijuana from another man inside the apartment, and then left, leaving the door open.

Pittler said three men then came inside the apartment, one carrying a knife and one carrying a gun. The men were wearing bandanas on their faces and fitted hats, and they had socks on their hands, he said.

The men grabbed Heal and “started hitting her with the gun,” Pittler testified.

He said as one man assaulted Heal, the other two forced him and others into the living room, demanding more marijuana.

When Pittler said he did not have any, one of the men “smacked (him) upside the head” with the gun, cutting open the skin behind his ear.

“I stood up, and there was blood all over my chest,” he said, adding he bled for three days after the incident.

He said he still suffers side-effects from the injury.

“I just feel slow. ... I feel like the things I do, I can’t keep the pace with,” he said. “It hurts when I sleep.”

He said he recognized two of the men as Golson and Clark, even though their faces were covered.

Another witness, Michael Smith, said he and his girlfriend arrived at the apartment after the suspects were already inside.

Smith said he entered the apartment through the open door and saw Heal in the bathroom. He testified he saw a man standing in the bathroom with Heal, wearing a bandanna on his face.

He testified that someone came up behind him and grabbed him, and when he turned around, the suspect pulled out a gun and pointed it at his face.

“He asked me if I thought this was a (expletive) game,” Smith said, adding the gun “looked real to me.”

Smith said he did not recognize any of the suspects.

He said he and his girlfriend were ordered to go into the living room and empty their pockets, while one of the suspects began “smacking” Heal on the floor.

“I could hear her screaming,” Smith said. “It was pretty scary.”

He testified he saw one of the suspects hit Pittler with a gun.

The jury also heard testimony from Samantha Danley, a friend of Golson and Clark.

Danley is currently incarcerated at Beacon Correctional Facility after pleading guilty to stealing a city police car in January 2007.

Danley told the jury that Golson and Clark had watched a movie at her house a few hours before the alleged home invasion occurred.

Contact reporter April Amadon at 439-9222, ext. 6251.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.