The 29-year-old Congo native was found guilty of raping a 90-year-old woman near a Dayton bikepath in 2013. He’ll serve 11 years for rape and two years for felonious assault.
Mpanurwa will face eight years of post-release control after serving the 13-year sentence. He also will receive credit for nearly three years of jail time served since the crime happened in 2013.
UPDATE @ 9:07 a.m. (Nov. 15):
Jean Paul Mpanurwa is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday at 10 a.m., according to court officials.
UPDATE @ 4:23 p.m. (Nov. 9):
A 29-year-old Congo native was found guilty Wednesday of raping a 90-year-old woman near a Dayton bikepath in 2013.
Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Steven Dankof announced the verdict against Jean Paul Mpanurwa.
Dankof found Mpanurwa guilty of rape, kidnapping and felonious assault after hearing evidence during a bench trial last week.
Standing between his attorney and an interpreter, Mpanurwa heard Dankof’s decision. The victim, now 93, was not in the gallery.
INITIAL REPORT:
On Thursday, Montgomery County prosecutors recounted details of a now 93-year-old woman’s alleged rape on a Dayton bike path in 2013.
“He led her off the bike path, he pushed her down, took off her pants, took off her underwear and raped her,” Assistant Prosecutor Cynthia Ellison said at the opening of the rape trial.
John Paul Mpawurna, who was 26 at the time of the alleged attack, is on trial for raping the woman. His attorney requested a bench trial, meaning a jury will not hear the case.
Instead, the judge will decide Mpawurna’s innocence or guilt after hearing testimony from all sides.
The woman told police shortly after the alleged assault that she was dragged by a young man from the bike path near Radio Road to a nearby commercial building where she was pushed to the ground and raped. Police said she walked home and told her son about the attack. She was treated at a local hospital and a rape exam was performed.
The prosecutor say the victim’s efforts to fight the suspect off were a physical mismatch.
“She’s frail, she walked with a cane then,” Ellison said.
Although the woman said she could not remember some details of the alleged attack because she was frightened and screaming, police said DNA evidence led them to arrest Mpawurna, a native of Congo.
Mpawurna, doesn’t understand English, was in court, and a a translator interpreted the proceedings for him.
The woman’s children, who asked not to be identified, were in court as well. They described the heart-breaking calls and conversations after their mother told them she had been raped.
“She said she’d been for a walk on the bike path and been raped,” the victim’s son said.
Her daughter added, sobbing: “And she was quiet, and she says ‘Sue, I need you,’ didn’t say anything else, just ‘I need you to come over.’”
The trial will resume Friday.
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