WILMINGTON — After a week long trial, 26-year-old Damien Aaron White, of Southern Pines, was found guilty of first degree rape by jury Wednesday in New Hanover County Superior Court, according to a press release from District Attorney Ben David.
White will serve up to 30 years in prison for his crime, and will be required to register as a sexual offender, and “comply with the sexual offender satellite monitoring program for the rest of his natural life,” the release states.
On August 9, 2015, at approximately 2 a.m., police were flagged down by two witnesses who reportedly saw a sexual assault in Quince Alley near Front Street in Wilmington. The witnesses heard a female screaming for someone to help her in the area of Quince Alley near Water Street in downtown Wilmington.
According to the release, White was seen lying on top of the female victim with his pants down. The young woman had her pants and underwear “forced around her ankles,” she reportedly suffered a serious head injury in the attack, also losing a shoe in the struggle.
One of the witnesses threw White off the victim. White then “pulled up his pants and fled the scene.
Officers with the Downtown Task Force observed White fleeing south on Front Street, with the witnesses in pursuit yelling that “the man had raped a woman in the alley.”
Officers were eventually able to detain White, just three blocks away from where the attack occurred. According to the release, White could be seen “fastening his pants on surveillance video at the booking department and detective division of the Wilmington Police Department, after White’s hands were no longer handcuffed behind his back.”
The brain injuries suffered by the victim left her unable to remember many details, however, White was positively identified by the eyewitnesses just after the commission of the crime.
Connie Jordan, the prosecutor assigned to the case, said that, “The victim is a strong person with a close personal support system, and our office is thankful for that.”
“Despite a lack of memory of the attack due to brain trauma, the emotional trauma from this type of crime can be life altering,” Jordan said. “We are grateful for the jury’s verdict, and for the witnesses who rendered aid. Today’s outcome would not have been possible without their testimony.”
