In March, police arrested a man for punching a woman in the face in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. Following the arrest, the NYPD announced that it was looking into and following several random attacks on women between March 25th and 27th in Chinatown, the West Village, Chelsea, and Midtown.
All of the victims shared the same story: they were punched in the head randomly while they were walking (NYPD). One of the victims, Halley Kate, posted a video that gained millions of views on TikTok; she went on to describe how she was “just walking, and a man came up and punched me in the face.”
Skiboky Stora, 40s, was arrested on Wednesday following his attack on Kate, 23-years-old. Kate was talking on Seventh Avenue just after 10 a.m. where she was punched. Stora faces misdemeanor assault and harassment charges, this, based on court documents, since the assault was captured on surveillance footage.
Stora has a tainted criminal history with similar assaults on his record. Just this past December, he was arrested following two other assaults and remains as the suspect and various other open cases; he is currently being held at $10,000 bail (CBS).
Besides Kate, several other women were also assaulted. One woman stated that she was attacked on March 19th at around 8 p.m. where she was struck from behind in the head near Delancey street in New York City’s Lower East Side (CBS).
Following this, on March 23rd at around 1:30 p.m. a 25-year-old woman was slapped in the forehead by an individual at West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue in Midtown. The NYPD released photos on the wanted suspect (ABC).
Similarly, surveillance footage captured an attack of a woman walking down Grand Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, March 26th. The woman claims that “He broke all my jaw, both sides.” The woman lost three teeth as well as having to have her jaw wired shut. The man responsible for this attack has been charged with misdemeanor assault (Inside Edition).
Following this, earlier on Monday, Mallik Maiah was arrested for approaching Mikayla Toninato in Union Square and punching her in the right eye. Maiah was charged with assault on Friday; this came two days after the NYPD made the connection between Stora assaulting Kate later that week (FOX).
Cheryl Pressgrove • May 30, 2024 at 2:37 PM
For someone breaking both sides of a woman’s jaw and causing her jaws to be wired shut and with the loss of three teeth, why was the perpetrator charged only with misde-meanor assault and not felonious assault? Hope he has to pay for all of her medical treatment due to his actions, although he’s probably a bum with no income.