Ex-Convict Gets Life Sentence for Torture
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An ex-convict has been sentenced to life in prison yesterday for the sadistic, 19-hour rape and torture of a Columbia University graduate student.
Robert Williams was convicted last month in Manhattan of attempted murder, rape, kidnapping, and arson. His actual sentence — 422 years — was pronounced by a state Supreme Court Justice, Carol Berkman, who said that for the sake of public safety she doesn’t ever want him to get out of prison.
The victim identified Williams in court while testifying about her agonizing April 2007 ordeal. He scalded her with boiling water, tried to blind her with bleach, forced her to swallow fistfuls of painkillers, and ordered her to gouge out her eyes with scissors. He also glued her lips shut and gagged her with duct tape before torching her apartment.