The NYPD is asking for the public’s help to provide further information on a person arrested for various alleged sex-related crimes.
It was reported to police that sometime between June 14 and June 19, 2022, inside of the home of the arrested individual, he allegedly sexually assaulted at least two adult females.
Police said Kemoy Royal, 32, of 3716 Pratt Avenue from the Edenwald section of The Bronx, was arrested on Sunday, June 19, at 6.27 a.m. in connection with the incidents.
According to the NYPD, the first sex crime took place on Wednesday, June 15, at around 4 p.m. “Police were alerted to an attempted rape of a 26-year-old female victim,” police officials said. Royal was charged with attempted rape, sexual abuse and assault.
Source: Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention
Police said on Sunday, June 19, at around 6.20 a.m., police were alerted to the rape of a 24-year-old victim. Royal was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of strangulation, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment, menacing, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and sexual abuse.
A person arrested and charged with a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.
Separately, Norwood News recently reported that the NYPD are also requesting assistance from the public in relation to another man, Silfredo A. Castillo Martinez, 32, of Decatur Avenue in The Bronx, who was employed at a daycare center located at 3525 Decatur Avenue #1AA & 1AB in Norwood, between July 2011 and May 2022. Martinez has also been arrested on alleged sex crime charges and police are asking members of the public who may have additional information on the suspect to come forward.
As reported, State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (S.D. 34), who is currently running for congress in New York’s 17th congressional district, announced that on June 2 the State senate majority passed the bill she sponsored to establish a rape kit tracking system in New York State. The bill was also passed in the assembly, where it was sponsored by Assembly Member Amy Paulin, and now awaits sign-off by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Bill S7867A/A9596 will direct the Division of Criminal Justice Services, in consultation with the State Department of Health, Office of Victim Services, Division of State Police, and the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Abuse to develop and implement a statewide electronic tracking system for evidence collection kits. The rape kits are used to collect and preserve evidence of sexual assault or other sex offenses.
“A rape kit tracking system will provide survivors with a sense of control and self-determination, and serve as a crucial tool in holding hospitals, law enforcement, and State labs accountable for timely processing,” Biaggi said.
As also reported, according to the Training Institute for Strangulation Prevention, based in California, perpetrators who use strangulation to silence their victims not only commit a felonious assault, but can be charged with attempted homicide. “For many years, medical training for the identification of domestic violence injuries, including strangulation, for police, prosecutors, and advocates was often overlooked and not included in core training,” the website reads.
It continues, “It wasn’t until the deaths of 17-year-old Casondra Stewart and 16-year-old Tamara Smith in 1995 that the San Diego criminal justice system first began to understand the lethality and seriousness of ‘choking’ cases. The deaths of these two teenagers were a sobering reminder of the reality of relationship violence, prompting then-San Diego City Attorney, Casey Gwinn, to study existing ‘choking’ cases being prosecuted within his office.”
Source: Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention
According to the institute, “The study revealed that, on a regular basis, victims had reported being choked, and in many of those cases, there was very little visible injury or evidence to corroborate the “choking” incident. The lack of physical evidence caused the criminal justice system to treat many ‘choking’ cases as minor incidents, much like a slap on the face where only redness may appear.”
Representatives of the institute added, “These two deaths ultimately changed the course of history and launched an aggressive awareness and education campaign to recruit experts and improve the criminal justice system’s response to the handling of ‘choking’ cases, which are now referred to as near-fatal strangulation cases [in the State of California].”
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.
All calls are strictly confidential.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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