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Sept. 27, 2011 Staff Report
Two men who attacked a number of Sunnyside and Woodside women earlier this year–in a series of separate incidents– are expected in court in October.
Paul Winston, a 21-year Brooklyn man, who mugged a series of Sunnyside/Woodside women near the 52nd Street subway station, is being held in jail in lieu of $150,000.
Paul Winston allegedly followed several women when they got off the 52nd Street subway station and then “grabbed them from behind and whacked them to the ground,” said Capt. Donald Powers, the police captain at the 108 Police precinct. He would then steal their belongings.
Powers said at the time that there had been six robberies of this type near 52nd Street between January and April, with Winston confessing to four of them.
Winston was charged in four criminal complaints and his next court case is October 19, 2011.
In three of the complaints, second-degree robbery is the top count and is a Class C felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. In the fourth complaint, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property is the top count and is a Class E felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
Meanwhile, Damari Morris, a 16-year-old from Brooklyn, who mugged six Sunnyside women on the northern side of Queens Blvd in early January has been free on his own recognizance. He will be sentenced on Oct. 13.
Morris followed women to their apartment buildings from the 40thStreet subway station, then knocked them to the ground and stole their belongs, said Capt. Donald Powers, the police captain at the 108 Police precinct. Morris took cell phones, iPods, mp3 players and cash.
Morris pleaded guilty on July 7, 2011, to second-degree burglary, a Class C felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Meanwhile, a Woodside woman who allegedly threw her baby into a trash can at Elmhurst hospital, is out of jail having posted $20,000 bail. The woman, Dawa Lama, is due back in court Sept. 29.
Lama is being charged with first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, abandonment of a child and endangering the welfare of a child. The top count — first-degree assault — is a Class C felony punishable by up to 15 years in jail.
