Rapist blames victim, women and media
Judge imposes 8-year sentence
“The idea that she was somehow responsible for what you did is totally ludicrous.” Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin, speaking to Jefferson Sumpter
BRIDGEPORT — Jefferson Sumpter had his one chance on Friday to try and make amends for beating and raping a Guilford woman he rescued from the throes of a winter storm.
“She isn’t dead, and she should appreciate that,” Sumpter told Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin as his victim sat in the back of the courtroom, a shocked expression on her face. “It was very cold that night and I was very intoxicated, she should have known better than going with a stranger. And we all know that women and the media make up rape allegations.”
Devlin said he was going along with the plea agreement, sentencing Sumpter to 15 years, suspended after he serves eight years in prison and followed by 10 years of probation.
“But the idea that she was somehow responsible for what you did is totally ludicrous,” the judge said. “Your claim that sex assault complaints by women is somehow a ploy is offensive.”
The 49-year-old Sumpter previously pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault and first-degree unlawful restraint as his case was about to go to trial.
“My life has not been the same since my terrifying experience with Mr. Sumpter,” the 67-year-old victim stated in a letter read aloud by Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Harry. “I don’t know whether he thought he had the right to rape me, choke me, chase me when I tried to escape and punch me, saying, ‘I am going to kill you bitch.’ ”
Harry said on Feb. 1, 2015, officers were dispatched to Frankie’s Diner on Barnum Avenue for a report of an assault. When officers got there, they found the victim crying hysterically with red finger marks around her neck.
The woman told detectives that she had taken the train to the city to visit a friend but had then gotten caught out in a storm, the prosecutor continued.
Unable to get back to the train station and with no place to wait out the storm, Harry said the woman went to the diner where she met Sumpter who offered to let her stay at his home until the storm cleared.
However, once they got into Sumpter’s house, the prosecutor said, Sumpter beat the woman in the head and pushed the woman onto a couch. When she tried to call for help he ripped her cellphone from her hand.
Harry said Sumpter then began choking the woman until she nearly passed out. He ripped her clothes off and sexually assaulted her.
“She was just looking for a place to get out of the storm,” the prosecutor said.