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Kervin Joseph-Michel, 43, kidnapped and sexually assaulted the 21-year-old woman in Irvington, after accosting her as she walked home carrying her three-week-old infant son on Nov. 4, 2015, according to Robert Florida, a spokesperson for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
The victim said Joseph-Michel repeatedly tried to engage her in conversation, but she rejected his advances and continued walking home, unaware that he was following her. Once in her backyard, Joseph-Michel placed what he said was a gun to her back and forced her into the foyer of the home, where he sexually assaulted her while holding what was later determined to be a knife to her body, Florida said.
On Feb. 7, following a trial before Superior Court Judge Ronald D. Wigler, the jury found Joseph-Michel guilty on six counts of first degree kidnapping, first degree aggravated sexual assault, second degree sexual assault, third degree aggravated assault, third degree endangering the welfare of a child, and third degree criminal restraint.
The victim testified that during the sexual assault she feared her infant son, whom she had to place on the floor, would cry and that the defendant would turn his attention to her son and harm him.
When the victim heard her boyfriend’s car approach, she came up with a plan. She asked the defendant to let her close the still-open door leading to the backyard. When he stepped back to allow her to get up, she grabbed her son from the floor and ran out the door to her boyfriend. The defendant followed and lunged at her boyfriend with the knife. During the ensuing struggle, the victim’s boyfriend disarmed the defendant, who then fled the scene on foot.
Both the forensic examination of the victim and the crime scene investigation revealed that the defendant’s DNA matched the DNA profile obtained from swabs taken during her examination, and also matched blood on the knife that Joseph-Michel left at the scene. His DNA, moreover, matched the DNA profiles obtained from evidence in three other unsolved sexual assault cases in Irvington and Newark.
That same year, Joseph-Michael sexually assaulted a a 13-year-old girl, sexually assaulted a 29-year-old woman, and tried to rape another victim after forcing himself in her vehicle, as reported by abc7.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 19, 2024, before Judge Wigler.
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