By LAURA ITALIANO
June 20, 2008
A Manhattan jury yesterday heard more about the agonies suffered by a Columbia University graduate journalism student after her 19-hour ordeal of rape and torture.
Ex-con Robert Williams, 31, is charged with - among other near-fatal torments - throwing boiling water onto his victim's body as she cowered in her bathtub.
The woman suffered through agonizing skin grafts to her breasts, right arm, torso and thighs - along with a year of living in compression garments.
Her skin grafts will always look thick and discolored, New York Hospital chief of burn surgery Dr. Roger Yurt told jurors.
Testimony in the heinous case concluded yesterday with an expert from the city Medical Examiner's Office telling jurors that Williams' DNA was isolated on the victim's high-school basketball jersey - which he wore during the attack - and her DNA was found in a drop of blood on the shirt he was wearing when arrested.
Summations are set for Monday.
