Suspect faces trial in three rapes, armed robbery case
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The woman said she pleaded with the masked man as he held a gun to her body, told her to strip and forced her to lie on her bed. She said she thought of the two teenagers downstairs in her care, whom he had threatened to kill if she raised her voice, she testified at a preliminary hearing for Arthur Henderson.
"And I'm like, 'Why are you doing this to me? I'm 50 years old,' " said the woman, who was raped in her home in Hopewell. "I kept saying, 'Please don't do this to me.' "
Mr. Henderson, 38, was held for trial on Friday on a ream of charges in connection with that attack and two others in Ross, one of which occurred in a baby nursery while the woman's 4-month-old daughter wailed. In all, he faces more than 40 charges in the three incidents, including forcible rape, robbery, unlawful restraint and intimidation.
Mr. Henderson was linked to the attacks after forensic experts determined that DNA from sperm found on the women matched his. He remains a suspect in a rape that occurred in early January in South Carolina, not far from where his relatives live.
District Judge Richard Opiela also held him for trial in an armed robbery after Paul Leung testified that an armed man dressed in dark, "streamlined" clothing forced his way into his home above the House of Lee restaurant on Ohio River Boulevard in Emsworth.
Mr. Leung said he had just returned home from a night playing games at Meadows Racetrack & Casino, carrying about $7,000 in his pockets. The robber made away with between $4,500 and $5,000 that had been in his right pants pocket, he said.
Based on the man's build and mannerisms, he told police that he thought the robber might be one of two people: Mr. Henderson, with whom he said he had gambled off-and-on for several years, or another man, who police later learned had recently had back surgery.
Mr. Leung was taken to a local hospital, where he said he received numerous stitches from the scuffle, during which part of his ear was cut open.
Mr. Henderson, clad in striped jail garb and shackled at the feet and waist, attempted to speak out of turn at the beginning of the hearing but largely remained quiet as the four victims laid out the details of the attacks.
First Published February 11, 2012 12:00 am
