Charges held in alleged sex assault case
CONNELLSVILLE – A Connellsville man charged with sexually assaulting a woman at knifepoint will have the matter heard before a Fayette County judge, following a ruling issued Thursday in the matter. Derrick Young, 30, is charged with single felony counts of rape, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent, aggravated indecent assault by force and aggravated assault with a weapon, along with single misdemeanor counts of indecent assault without consent, aggravated assault, simple assault with a weapon and reckless endangerment in connection with the alleged incident.
The Herald-Standard does not identify victims of sexual crimes.
On the stand, Young’s alleged victim sobbed and shook uncontrollably as she recounted the Aug. 4 incident to Connellsville police detective Lt. Steven Shaffer.
According to the woman, she and a male companion were having drinks at a South Pittsburgh Street bar when Young approached the two and began conversing with her companion.
“He asked what we were doing later and (my friend) said that we were going to his house and have a few beers,” she testified. “(Young) asked if he could come along and (my friend) said that it was alright.”
At about 3:30 a.m., those invited to the private home began to leave, with Young offering the woman the opportunity to stay at his friend’s house located near East Park.
“I didn’t know (Young),” she told Fayette County Public Defender Tom Shaffer under cross-examination.
The woman said that she and Young walked from South Pittsburgh Street to East Park and walked down “a really dark” pathway while at the same time he tried to contact his unnamed friend to let him know they were on their way.
“We sat on the steps for a few minutes waiting for his friend to call back,” the alleged victim told Steven Shaffer. “He said that if his friend didn’t call back we could sleep in East Park.”
The woman said that she was determined not to sleep in the park and would instead find a pay telephone and call someone to come and pick her up.
When she started to walk away, Young grabbed her and held a barber’s straight razor to her throat.
“He said, ‘You are not leaving; you are going to (expletive) me,'” recounted the woman, adding that the weapon was held to her throat during the assault. “I thought I was going to die.”
At one point the woman told Steven Shaffer that she tried to run from the scene. However, he struck her from behind causing her to become light-headed.
A second opportunity presented itself and although she was able to get away, Young struck her in the back of the head, she testified.
The woman testified that she received help from a nearby resident who called 911. She was taken to Highlands Hospital and received 20 stitches to her forehead and three staples to the back of her head before being transported to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh where she was treated for a hairline fracture to her throat.
During cross-examination, Tom Shaffer asked the woman if she had kissed or touched Young in anyway before going to East Park, or if she had engaged in a sex act on a basketball court earlier in the morning. “No,” she responded to both questions.
Although Tom Shaffer argued that the prosecution had not produced sufficient evidence to hold all charges for court, Magisterial District Judge Ronald Haggerty Jr. ruled all the counts would be bound over.
Young remains incarcerated on a $100,000 straight cash bond.