A 68-year-old anti-Asian hate crime victim described the moment she faced her attacker this week, three years after he brutally assaulted her in New York City’s Times Square.
The victim, Vilma Kari, attended the sentencing of 41-year-old Brandon Elliot to read her victim impact statement, marking the first time she’s confronted the assailant since the attack. Elliot had crossed paths with Kari on the sidewalk in 2021, when he shouted expletives and told her “You don’t belong here,” before toppling her and stomping on her head and body repeatedly. He was sentenced to 15 years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of assault in the first degree as a hate crime, and one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.
While the prospect of facing Elliot was nerve-wracking, Kari told NBC News she insisted on showing up at court so she could find closure and describe the impact the attack had had on her.
“You took some of my freedom away, Mr. Elliot, that I am afraid to go out by myself, or afraid of riding the subway, afraid of being around people,” Kari said, recounting her statements in court. “I really would like to emphasize that fear that he had instilled in my heart and the realization that after so many years of living here in America, that I am, or I was perceived as, not belonging here.”
Elliot’s attorney, Jamie Niskanen-Singer, said in a statement shared with NBC News that his client had “expressed remorse” for what Kari had gone through.
“Mr. Elliot has long suffered from serious and well-documented mental health diagnoses, which was a contributing factor but by no means a blanket excuse. He has accepted responsibility for his actions and sought to spare Ms. Kari of having to relive the ordeal at a trial,” Niskanen-Singer said in the statement. “While nothing can undo what Ms. Kari has gone through and continues to go through, we both hope that this sentencing and the opportunity to give her victim…
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