Brave sister, 14, fights back tears in court as the man who raped her, slashed her throat and then killed her little brother, 6, when he tried to save her is sentenced to 110 years in prison
A teenage rape victim fought back tears in court as the man who killed her six-year-old brother who tried to defend her was jailed for 110 years.
Amber Andujar, 14, was defiant in the New Jersey courtroom where Osvaldo Rivera, 35, was given the sentence for a catalog of crimes including murder, attempted murder and aggravated sexual assault.
Rivera sliced open the throat of Dominick Andujar, six, who tried to stop the attack after he broke into their home in Camden, New Jersey in September 2012.
He was raping Amber, then 12, in a downstairs living room while holding a knife to her throat when Dominick intervened.
She tried to escape after he attacked, but Rivera also slashed her throat – though she survived.
Speaking in court, Amber was close to tears as she confronted Rivera, the Courier Post reported. She said:
“Today I stand here as a survivor. Even though he took a part of me away, in the end, you did not win.”
Rivera, bound with a chain round his waist and wearing a deep red shirt, did not speak or show any sign of emotion at the hearing, according to NJ.com.
He had earlier been offered a 65-year sentence in exchange for an admission of guilt, but he instead pleaded not guilty, and has denied involvement in the crime. His sentence means he will not be eligible for parole for 91 years.
Rivera fled the scene of the attack after killing Dominick. Amber was later seen running through the neighborhood, screaming for help while bleeding from the throat.
Emergency responders said the cuts were so deep they could see Amber’s vocal cords.
She later helped officers track down her rapist by telling them he was known by the nickname Popeye and lived in a Camden apartment. Police tracked him down to an apartment in the city and found him hiding between an upturned mattress and the wall.
Outside the hearing, the Andujar spoke of their grief, and said Rivera’s lengthy sentences gives them some solace.
Tiarra, one of Dominick’s sisters, said: “Grown men wouldn’t do what Dominick did that day. He’s our soldier and will forever be in our hearts until the day we die.”
His mother, Debbie Burgos, said: “[Rivera] is a coward, a big coward that does not take responsibility for what he did. He knows what he did.
‘[Dominick was] A little six-year-old boy, a baby just preparing to go to school. Two days before he was going to start school we were preparing for a funeral.