"A travesty gross enough to make a blind statue cry"

So, spoke the 20 y.o. sexual assault victim, "Ashley". Ashley had been raped by a youth counselor, inside a courthouse, when she was 15 years old.

The perp, Tony Simmons, got ten years probation, and no jail time for sexual assault on teenage girls under his supervision. "Ashley", however, received a 12 month sentence on an unrelated charge of falsifying a police report.

The NY Daily News has the horrifying details.

[Ashley] expected Tyson, as Simmons was called, to bring her up to the courtroom where she was scheduled to be sentenced for filing a false police report

Instead, the elevator descended to the basement. The 42-year-old counselor pulled down her pants and raped her with calm, practiced precision that made him all the more terrifying.

When he was done, Simmons pulled her pants back up and the elevator ascended to the courtroom. He raised an extended index finger to his lips in a mute command for her to say nothing.

Just moments after being violated, Ashley was seated next to her mother and before the judge. She was too shocked and terrified to report the attack.

 

Now, however, the judge is rejecting Simmons' plea: A humane first step. And, if there were any justice, he'd be behind bars:

[Judge] Mullen said she could not go ahead with the promised sentence of probation she made in September because a Department of Probation report showed Tony Simmons showed no remorse - and even blamed his underage victims.

Calling Simmons' comments in the report "nothing short of appalling," Mullen said he "seems to suggest he did his [rape] victim a favor."

Usually it's really better if she's blindfolded. This probably wasn't one of them.

-d.s.