Nicholas Rossi, an American man who faked his dying and fled to Scotland to flee rape fees, has been jailed for not less than 5 years.
The sentence handed all the way down to the 38-year-old is the primary of two he faces after being convicted individually in August and September of raping two girls in 2008.
Utah has “indeterminate sentencing” – which means jail phrases handed down are in a spread of years reasonably than a set quantity, with launch dates set by the state’s parole board.
Picture:
Nicholas Rossi showing in courtroom in August. Pic: AP
Throughout August’s three-day trial, Rossi’s accuser and her dad and mom took the stand – with the sufferer telling the courtroom that he left a “trail of fear, pain and destruction” behind him.
“This is not a plea for vengeance. This is a plea for safety and accountability, for recognition of the damage that will never fully heal,” she stated.
Brandon Simmons, a prosecutor within the case, alleged Rossi “uses rape to control women” and posed a threat to neighborhood security.
Rossi – whose authorized title is Nicholas Alahverdian – maintained his innocence throughout the sentencing listening to. In a delicate, raspy voice, he stated: “I am not guilty of this. These women are lying.”
He was first recognized in 2018 after a decade-old DNA rape equipment was examined.
However in February 2020 – months after he was charged in one of many instances – an internet obituary claimed he had died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Rossi was arrested in Scotland the next yr whereas being handled for COVID, after hospital employees recognised his distinctive tattoos – together with the crest of a college he by no means attended.
A protracted courtroom battle meant he wasn’t extradited till January 2024, with Rossi claiming he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed.
Investigators recognized not less than a dozen aliases that he had used to evade seize over time.
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Jan 2024: Extradited man denies identification to US courtroom
One in every of his victims had been recovering from a traumatic mind damage when she responded to a private advert that Rossi had posted on Craigslist.
They started relationship and had been engaged inside a few weeks – and based on her testimony, Rossi had requested her to pay for dates and automotive repairs, lend him cash, and tackle debt for his or her rings.
She instructed the courtroom that Rossi raped her in his bed room one night time after she drove him dwelling – and went to police years later after discovering that one other girl in Utah had come ahead with accusations.
Rossi is because of be sentenced for the second conviction in November.
