Jury deliberates fate of teen’s accused rapist
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » Deliberations began Thursday in the trial of a 35-year-old man accused of raping a 14-year-old girl at his Chester home in 2016.
David Cardona is charged with rape by forcible compulsion, indecent assault by forcible compulsion and corruption of minors. The two-day trial was before Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Scanlon.
The alleged victim, now 15, testified Wednesday that Cardona came to her house for a dinner party sometime in March 2016. Cardona’s wife, Jennifer Torres, allegedly offered to take the girl and her sister to an event the next day.
Cardona drove the girls and his youngest child, a 5-month-old baby, to his home in Chester that night, according to the alleged victim. She said Cardona’s wife meanwhile drove the girl’s mother and other sister to another house.
Once at Cardona’s residence, he allegedly placed the baby down and told the two younger girls to go upstairs to play PlayStation. The girl said he told them not to come back downstairs without his permission.
The alleged victim told Assistant District Attorney Diane Horn that the baby was fussy, so she went to make up a bottle. Just as she was going to start the tap, the girl said Cardona came into the kitchen, threw something away, then turned the lights off.
The girl said Cardona came up behind her, pulled down her leggings and had intercourse with her. Shortly before stopping, she said he told her he was “about to bust.”
The alleged victim said she saw Cardona’s exposed penis as she pulled her leggings on, then went upstairs and took a shower. She said there was blood in her underwear and she threw them away after trying to wash them out.
Torres returned at some point and the household watched a movie together downstairs until bedtime. In the morning, the girl said she asked to be driven home rather than go to the event. Cardona allegedly drove the girl home and told her not to tell anyone.
The alleged victim said Cardona asked her several times afterward whether she had told anyone and one time asked if she “wanted to do it again.”
The alleged victim’s little sister also testified Wednesday that Cardona had told her and his daughter to stay upstairs, which struck her as odd since there was a PlayStation downstairs. She also said Cardona was siting close to the alleged victim and touching her during the movie and that her sister scooted away from him.
The girl’s mother testified that she discovered the alleged victim in the bathroom Nov. 3, 2016, with a knife to her neck. She said she asked the girl if someone had touched her and ran through the names of people the alleged victim might have been alone with. When the mother said Cardona’s name, she said the girl put her head down and cried, then told her he had assaulted her.
The alleged victim told defense attorney Michael Skinner Wednesday that her mother often asked the girls whether anyone was touching them.
The mother said the girl had come home after the alleged rape and told her she needed sanitary pads. She said she saw her daughter’s underwear that day and they appeared to have a lot of blood in them.
The mother said Cardona used to come by her home frequently, but stopped coming around in the spring of 2016.
Torres also testified, but denied any plans to take the girls to an event the day after the alleged rape occurred. She said she did not see anything unusual when she arrived home that night, and that the girl seemed excited and happy when the two went through Torres’ dresses looking for something the girl could borrow for a school dance.
Torres said she received a call from the girl’s mother in May 2016 saying her daughter had denied Cardona touched her and that she told the alleged victim Torres would bring a lie detector to her house.
The alleged victim’s denied ever having that with Torres.
Torres said she had urged her husband to cut off any monetary assistance and distance himself from the alleged victim’s family because she believed they were taking advantage of him. The alleged victim’s family was also not invited to Cardona’s child’s first birthday party in October, Torres said.
A Facebook message from Cardona to the girl’s mother explained that he did not want to get into a fight with Torres about it. That message came about a week before the accusation was first made, Skinner noted. mother conversation