Fifth Day of Hossu Trial has Victim Face Defense
On the stand for the third straight day, the girl who alleged Alexandru Hossu of rape finally faced questioning from the defense, which tried to shoot holes in her accusation.
Though lead defense attorney for Hossu, Daniel Mentzer started cross-examining the teenage accuser Wednesday, he didn’t get into the brunt of the questioning until Thursday morning. During that time, Mentzer was able to get the girl to admit she made a “mistake” about what date Hossu allegedly raped her.
The accuser had told four different people, who included a high school guidance counselor, her aunt, an official at the Child Advocacy Center and a Putnam County Sheriff’s investigator she was attacked by Hossu on the night of Oct. 24, 2010. In her grand jury testimony, she also stated it was that date.
“It’s a hard date to forget,” she said to the grand jury. “It’s traumatic.”
While she stated multiple times it was Oct. 24, 2010, she admitted she recalled the wrong date when the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office told her phone records indicated she was talking to a friend the night the rape apparently took place, as pointed out by Mentzer.
On the stand, she said the attack took place on the last week of October 2010, but other dates that week were also ruled out.
“I made a mistake,” she said, when referring to the date she originally thought the assault happened.
The girl, now 16, was 13-years-old at the time of the alleged rape.
Hossu was arrested in March 2013 and charged with two counts each of 1st degree rape and 2nd degree rape and one count of endangering the welfare of a minor. Hossu, 36, was the former live-in personal trainer of Putnam County District Attorney Adam Levy. Levy recused his office from the prosecution, which is why Westchester is handling the case. Mentzer is the brother-in-law of Levy.
The alleged victim also testified she didn’t tell anyone what happen to her the day after the attack when she went to school, including two of her best friends. Additionally, she said there weren’t any bruises or marks left on her neck from the attack after previously stating Hossu choked her down for more than three hours when the rape occurred.
Also called to testify for the prosecution Thursday was a guidance counselor from Brewster High School and a Putnam County deputy sheriff.
The trial is set to resume Monday morning with more witnesses for the prosecution.
Check back in Tuesday’s The Putnam Examiner for more on this story.
