Kafatia jury slection begins

Jury selection for the trial of Kent Kafatia, the former City College security officer charged with rape, begins late this week, said Deputy District Attorney Mary Barron.

Kafatia faces charges for two of four alleged incidents. He faces eight of the original 10 charges including rape, attempted rape, sexual battery, criminal threats and false imprisonment. Seven of his current charges are felonies.

During a Dec. 9 pre-trial hearing, Judge George Eskin dismissed two counts associated with the alleged rape of a 51-year-old woman in November. The woman said she passed out from ingesting alcohol and Valium and woke up in discomfort to find a used condom on the floor next to her.

Barron filed the charges again citing new and important evidence.

"We essentially found corroborating evidence that proved the defendant did have sexual contact with the alleged victim," she said.

Barron said that an analysis of the condom found at the scene matched Kafatia's DNA. She also said there were witnesses who alleged that at the time the 51-year-old woman did not want to have contact with Kafatia, though he and the woman had consensual sex last summer after she met him in a bar. The defense argued no evidence exists that the woman did not consent to sex in November as well, and that she possibly forgot this fact due to her state. Barron said there is new physical evidence.

"We had previously undocumented injuries to her genital area previously not observed by the nurse who reviewed her in her sexual assault exam," Barron said.

Judge Joseph Lodge ruled that Kafatia "will not be held to answer" to the charges regarding the 51-year-old woman.

Barron, however, remains confident. "I think the evidence will speak for itself," she said. "I think it is very strong evidence and I think it will support a conviction."

Atkins could not be reached as of press time.

Kafatia was arrested Nov. 14 while on duty at City College. He was originally charged in two sexual assaults involving a 20-year-old woman and the 51-year-old woman.

He allegedly picked up the 20-year-old woman while she was walking on the Mesa. After she got in the vehicle he allegedly drove to a residential area and raped her in a security vehicle.

In another incident a young woman reported that she was walking on campus when a man offered her a ride. She said she refused and he forced her into a security vehicle, where she escaped by attacking him with a claw clip. She later identified Kafatia as her attacker.

Two more women later identified him as their attacker in Dec. 6, 2003 and Oct. 31, 2004 incidents. They reported they recognized him on the news.

Kafatia, 22, who was originally from Malawi, Africa, was a UCSB transfer from City College at the time of his arrest.

He lived at the Salvation Army until former Peace Corps volunteers calling themselves the "Friends of Kent," took him into their homes and also raised $17,000 for his education, adopted him.