The New York Times-20080125-At 101- Mugging Victim Has Her -Early- Day in Court
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At 101, Mugging Victim Has Her (Early) Day in Court
Demonstrating the same spunk she showed when she survived a vicious mugging almost a year ago at the age of 101, Rose Morat walked into a Queens courtroom on Thursday with the help of her walker and vividly described the events of that day.
A man with a big smile had approached her in the lobby of her Queens building and offered to help her outside. I said: 'That's not necessary. I do this all the time. But you're very kind, thank you,' Ms. Morat said.
He opened the foyer door and pretended to be opening the outside door, she said, then suddenly turned and hit her repeatedly in the head with his hands. I did see stars, she said. But I held onto my walker.
Since Ms. Morat turns 102 on Feb. 4 and the case is not due for trial for perhaps another year, the Queens district attorney's office convened a special hearing on Thursday to preserve her testimony on videotape if she is unable to testify at the trial. If able, she will appear at trial, said a spokesman for the district attorney's office.
On Thursday, at least, she appeared quite fit. In freshly coiffed white hair, a tan suit and a flowered scarf tied jauntily around her neck, Ms. Morat declared herself very comfortable as she took the witness stand in State Supreme Court. When a prosecutor asked if she was currently employed, she laughed and explained that she retired in 1975 after heading the communications department of a brokerage house for 36 years.
She recounted the events of March 4, which unfolded as she tried to leave her building in Jamaica Estates to attend Mass at her church across the street. She said a man in a hooded jacket hit her so hard that blood rushed out of her mouth and nose, and she realized that she had been mugged. I was shocked, she said. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor.
Next, the prosecutor, Dianna Megias, showed her a surveillance videotape of the attack. It showed her being struck over and over, her hat flying off as she fell to the floor still gripping her purse, which held $23. He ripped the bag right out of my arm, she said. I reached for it, but he went out immediately.
Asked to describe her injuries, she demonstrated how she had had to use her left hand to raise her right arm for a while after the attack. She also said her face bled for at least two weeks. Her right arm will never heal completely, but it is better.
I can write, she said. I do exercises every day.
The defendant, Jack Rhodes, 45, of Queens, who has pleaded not guilty, sat silent in the courtroom during the hearing, often pressing his hands together and to his temple.
After the videotape ended, the prosecutor asked Ms. Morat to look around the courtroom and see if she could identify her attacker. You mean he is actually here? Ms. Morat said. She put on her glasses, stood up and slowly surveyed the room. Her gaze paused at two people in the courtroom before settling for a long period on Mr. Rhodes, a beefy man in a gray Old Navy sweatshirt.
I'm not positive, she said. But there's a man sitting there. It could be a man like that. She described her attacker as somewhat more slender, with a fuller head of hair and facial hair. But it has been a long time. He may have changed his appearance.
The prosecutor repeated her request several more times. Ms. Morat sighed and said, Could I ask that person to smile for me? referring to Mr. Rhodes. She explained that her attacker had large white teeth.
Overruling defense objections, Justice Gregory L. Lasak asked Mr. Rhodes to show his teeth to the witness. After he did so, Ms. Morat said, I would say, that's the man.
Mr. Rhodes is charged with burglary, assault, robbery and grand larceny as hate crimes for attacking an elderly person. In cross-examining Ms. Morat, Mr. Rhodes's lawyer, Paul Montgomery, asked her about her eyesight, the lighting in her lobby and whether she took any medications. She said she took medicine to lower her cholesterol and added, I take a few vitamins a day, too.
He also asked her to describe the mugger's teeth. Big and white, she repeated.
Mr. Montgomery then asked for a photographic record of his client's teeth as they appeared on Thursday. As the pictures were taken, Mr. Rhodes turned to the reporter in the courtroom and tapped his front teeth, saying, Chipped tooth.
