Court date set for 3 charged in attack that severed man’s fingers
A preliminary exam is scheduled for three people charged in a robbery and assault in Pontiac where the victim had four of his fingers cut off. Patrick Leak (aka Patrick Sykes), 40, Patricia Osborn (aka Patricia Denny), 56, and Henry Simms, 32, are each charged with robbery and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder for the Sept. 21 attack. On Nov. 24, an inperson preliminary exam will be held before Judge Ronda Fowlkes Gross of 50th District Court, where she will decide if the case moves forward.
According to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, investigators on the case said the victim told them that he had met up with a woman and her boyfriend at an apartment on Mechanic Street. Investigators also said the woman, later identified as Osborn, told them she and her boyfriend had planned to buy drugs from the victim. She also reportedly said that while they were in the apartment, a man knocked on the door, was let in and then attacked the victim with a large crescent wrench, severing four fingers from his right hand. The victim believes it was a set-up, and claimed Osborn and her boyfriend also assaulted him, the sheriff’s office said.
The attack may have been retaliation for a shooting the day before of one of the two men charged, and the victim may have been responsible for the shooting, the sheriff’s office said.
Doctors were able to re-attach one of the fingers.
The sheriff’s office said a crescent wrench wasn’t recovered but a bloody knife — more consistent with the injuries — was found, leading investigators to question whether a crescent wrench was even used on the victim.
Three of the severed fingers were located in the apartment and the fourth was found in a grassy field near the apartment complex. The sheriff’s office said the fourth finger had reportedly ended up in Osborn’s purse which had been thrown into the field after the three fled the apartment. Leak is jailed on a $85,000 bond, while Simms’ bond is set at $50,000 and Osborn’s is $40,000. At a probable cause conference on Tuesday, Osborn’s attorney Jeffery Quas told the judge that Osborn was requesting her bond be lowered. Gross, however, said she wasn’t familiarwith the case but that “it sounds like it’s very horrific” — and refused the request.