By WILLIAM J. GORTA
An Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn woman was repeatedly raped and turned out for prostitution over eight years by her assailants, who used the threat of harm to her family to keep her in line, authorities said yesterday.
The horror began when the victim was just 13.
Ringleader Damien Crooks, who has 37 arrests and six convictions, along with Jamali Brockett, raped the girl in a Crown Heights park in 2003 -- and once sold her on the street to a passer-by for $20, Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes charged.
"For years, defendant Crooks terrified this woman," Hynes said.
The victim still managed to graduate high school and attend college, where she confided her ordeal to her professor, a former assistant district attorney.
"She's a diamond in the rough. She did a great job segregating whatever happened in her life," the professor said.
Crooks and Brockett tried to force the victim to help recruit other women into prostitution and smashed her head on a floor when she refused, Hynes charged. Crooks and Darrell Dula, who has 37 arrests and 16 convictions, allegedly raped her. On one occasion, Crooks, Brockett and Brockett's brother Jawara raped her on a rooftop while her brother waited outside the building unaware, the DA said.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Joseph McKay ordered Crooks held in lieu of $1 million bail. Dula was held in lieu of $50,000 bail. The Brockett brothers have yet to be arraigned.
The horror began when the victim was just 13.
Ringleader Damien Crooks, who has 37 arrests and six convictions, along with Jamali Brockett, raped the girl in a Crown Heights park in 2003 -- and once sold her on the street to a passer-by for $20, Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes charged.
"For years, defendant Crooks terrified this woman," Hynes said.
The victim still managed to graduate high school and attend college, where she confided her ordeal to her professor, a former assistant district attorney.
"She's a diamond in the rough. She did a great job segregating whatever happened in her life," the professor said.
Crooks and Brockett tried to force the victim to help recruit other women into prostitution and smashed her head on a floor when she refused, Hynes charged. Crooks and Darrell Dula, who has 37 arrests and 16 convictions, allegedly raped her. On one occasion, Crooks, Brockett and Brockett's brother Jawara raped her on a rooftop while her brother waited outside the building unaware, the DA said.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Joseph McKay ordered Crooks held in lieu of $1 million bail. Dula was held in lieu of $50,000 bail. The Brockett brothers have yet to be arraigned.
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