BROOKLYN — The inability of the Brownsville gang rape victim to pick any suspects out of police line-ups and photo arrays means investigators have to rely heavily on DNA evidence, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said.
The young woman who said she was raped by five teenagers in a Brownsville playground last week wasn’t able to identify any of the suspects — probably because of the trauma she suffered after the assault, Bratton said.
“Very frequently ... the trauma situation, the circumstances of a particular assault or rape, it’s not infrequent, that there’s the actual inability of the trauma, the emotion, the psychological impact that occludes the ability [of a victim to identify suspects],” Bratton said Thursday morning.
“So often we’re very dependent upon DNA-type evidence to be able to move forward with a case."
Detectives are expecting the full testing of DNA samples to be complete in seven to 10 days, Bratton said.
Meanwhile, four of the suspects —Travis Beckford, 17, Onandi Brown, 17, Denzel Murray, 14, and Ethan Phillip, 15, — were released as of Friday morning because the Brooklyn District Attorney's office and police are still gathering evidence and have not presented the case to a grand jury.
The fifth suspect, Shaquell Cooper, 15, is expected to be held on a warrant regarding a previous attempted murder case.
Five teenagers were arrested in what the 18-year-old victim and her father described as a gunpoint attack at the Osborn Playground, at Lott Avenue and Osborn Avenue, about 9:10 p.m. on Jan. 7.
Some of the boys told police they were with the victim during the attack and said their friends had consensual sex with her, according to sources.
The suspects were each put either through lineups or photo arrays but neither the victim nor the father were able to identify them, according to Brooklyn District Attorney's office.
Defense lawyers for the men have called the case weak, pointing out the fact that their clients were not identified by any witnesses.
The five teens were all hit with rape and other charges. The teens, two of whom have told investigators that the sex was consensual, were ordered held on bail ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.
Due to numerous inconsistencies in the case, Bratton said police will continue to follow leads.
"The first story is never the last story," Bratton said.
"I think in this case that is certainly the case. We’ll just have to go over the next several days' work with the DA’s Office and go where the truth takes us and get there as quickly as possible."
