By Nathan Duke
Jofre Bautista, 33, of 105 Starr St. in Brooklyn, has been charged in the 2003 attack based on a DNA sample in the New York City DNA Databank, the DA said. Bautista, who is married and a father of two, was employed by a Long Island City awning company at the time of his arrest on Oct. 21, according to a spokesman from the DA's office.Bautista, who has been held without bail since that date, was charged in the Oct. 18 rape of the Woodside girl and has a court date of Feb. 23 for that incident, the DA said.He has also been charged with the 2003 attack but is currently awaiting arraignment, a spokesman for the DA said. Bautista was set to be arraigned on Jan. 17 but was treated for injuries after banging his head on the bars of his jail cell, the spokesman said. He later cut his wrists to avoid arraignment a second time, the spokesman said.If convicted of the 2003 attack, Bautista faces up to 25 years in prison. He is currently being held pending arraignment in Queens County Criminal Court in Kew Gardens on charges of rape, kidnapping, criminal sexual acts, assault, unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the city DNA Databank played a key role in matching samples from one rape case to another.”A simple walk home turned into a terrorizing ordeal for a young woman as she was brutally victimized and kidnapped, causing her physical and emotional trauma from which she may never recover,” he said. “This case underscores yet again the crucial importance of DNA evidence which is irrefutable proof of guilt or innocence.”Brown said the defendant allegedly grabbed the 15-year-old girl from behind around 8 p.m. on Dec. 11, 2003 in Elmhurst, at the corner of 67th Street and Maurice Avenue. Brown said Bautista allegedly dragged the girl into his car, punching her numerous times in the face and head and then pulled a knife and threatened to kill her.According to the criminal complaint, the defendant allegedly raped, beat and sodomized the girl, Brown said. The girl was later treated at a local hospital and her clothing was submitted for DNA testing, Brown said. When Bautista was forced to give a DNA sample when he was arrested in the October 2005 rape, the sample was later linked to DNA in the rape kit from the December 2003 attack, Brown said.The DA said DNA from the Woodside girl's clothing was positively matched to the defendant's DNA profile in the city databank.Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
