Man Found Guilty of Assaulting Woman in NY
The Florida woman who was forced to walk naked down a NYC block in the winter by her jealous boyfriend is getting some vindication. The man who forced her to do it and also filmed the entire thing (and tried to profit off the video after), Jason Melo, has been found guilty of coercion in the first degree, assault in the third degree, menacing in the second degree, endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated harassment in the second degree.
The 24-year-old woman, whose name has been withheld, testified in court to the abuse, which occurred on the streets of Harlem in Jan, 2016. She said that he "tortured" her for two hours over finding texts between her and other men. He then pushed her outside and into the cold, before grabbing his cell phone to record the whole thing.
“He grabbed my neck, and forced it really hard. I was losing breath,” she said.
“He was saying many things, like I’m a whore, I could kill you right now, I’m capable of anything,” she testified.
She continued: “He said, you know what, you’re gonna pay. You’re gonna get naked and you’re gonna go out on the street, and you’re gonna pay."
The woman also claimed that Melo swung a heavy stone Buddha statue at her, as if intending to bash her head in, and that the entire time, their two-month old daughter lay on the bed, just feet away.
In the two-minute clip of the video shown to jurors, Melo snatches the towel off the victim and says, “Take off your towel! Co-operate b*tch. Show what you are, so pretty and so great. She’s a tart. Let’s go. Let’s go. Say hi to the camera and say why you’re doing this.”
He continued, “Pay the price for your shame! You’re going to pay the price for being a whore. Since you’re a whore, you’re going to pay like a whore.”
“There, on the trash, exactly,” he sneers as she tries to hide herself behind some trash cans. “Pose with your trash.”
The woman eventually finds a discarded motorcycle cover and wraps herself in it, and the tape cuts off.
After the assault, Melo sent the video to friends to brag about it and also tried to sell merchandise based on the video, including t-shirts with some of the things that he yells at her.
After being found guilty, Melo could face up to 7 years for his crimes.
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