NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A 31-year-old man was sentenced a minimum of 18 years in state prison for sexually assaulting his girlfriend at knifepoint in 2021 after she tried to end their relationship, authorities announced Thursday.
Dennis Weaver was convicted last year of 21 counts including criminal sexual act, attempted rape, criminal obstruction of breathing, criminal possession of a weapon, stalking, bribing a witness and tampering with a witness.
According to officials, beginning on September 20, 2020, after the woman tried to end their relationship, Dennis Weaver's aggression escalated from breaking her cell phone to throwing bottles through the glass windows of the apartment she shared with her father on the Lower East Side.
On April 29, 2021, Weaver dragged the woman into the stairwell and up to the rooftop landing of a residential building, where he threatened to throw her off the roof.
Weaver assaulted her, suffocated her with his hands and blankets, and ripped her pants off using his teeth and a knife. He then sexually assaulted her at knifepoint for over an hour before the victim was able to get away, running down a flights of stairs without pants on and finding shelter in a Good Samaritan’s apartment where she could safely call 911.
Weaver was arrested six days later, and an order of protection was issued barring him from contacting her.
Even after Weaver was arrested and in custody, he continued to harass, threaten, and bribe the victim in an attempt to prevent her from cooperating with law enforcement, prosecutors said.
He continued to contact her from Rikers Island, often using other inmates’ book and case numbers, to try to convince her to recant her statement and to drop the charges in recorded calls.
Weaver repeatedly implored the victim to sign an affidavit recanting her testimony against him and to refuse to testify at the sexual assault trial.
In exchange for the victim’s agreement to sign the affidavit and cease all cooperation with the prosecution, Weaver offered the victim money, promised to leave her and her family alone, and promised to plead guilty to additional charges pertaining to an incident where Weaver and the victim unlawfully entered a private residence and a nightclub and damaged property inside of the nightclub.
The survivor was terrified by Weaver’s threats and the fact that he would learn where she now lived if she testified at trial, according to prosecutors.
In the weeks preceding the trial, Weaver’s mother and his associate repeatedly called and threatened the vicitm and she ultimately did not return to New York to testify.
The evidence included video footage and other evidence like high resolution video surveillance from the stairwell where defendant beat, strangled and sexually assaulted the victim at knifepoint, crime scene photos, the victim’s clothing, her 911 call, and body-worn camera footage from the first responders.
Photographs of the windows Weaver smashed in the days leading up to the sexual assault and heard recordings of his phone calls made from Rikers Island were also presented.
Weaver received a guilty verdict on Oct. 17, 2023 and was sentenced to 15 years and 3-to-6 years in state prison, consecutive.
"While Dennis Weaver’s campaign of harassment and intimidation tactics may have deterred the survivor in this case from testifying at trial, it did not stop our prosecutors from securing accountability," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. "Weaver turned his girlfriend’s life into a living nightmare when she tried to end their relationship. His abusive acts escalated over the course of months before he finally brutally and repeatedly sexually assaulted her at knifepoint. Even on Rikers Island, he continued to do everything in his power to prevent her from testifying and cooperating. And now, Dennis Weaver will serve at least 18 years in state prison."