Crime Watch

Valley Stream State Park rapist sentenced

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Nashane Peterkin, the teen responsible for two violent sexual assaults in Valley Stream last year, will spend the next two decades in state prison. He was sentenced by Judge Angelo Delligatti on Feb. 20 at the Nassau County Courthouse.

In December, Peterkin pleaded guilty to eight felony counts stemming from the rape of a 60-year-old woman at Valley Stream State Park on Sept. 1, and the attack on a 30-year-old woman on Mill Road on Aug. 12.

Peterkin was arrested a week after the state park attack. Amanda Burke, an assistant district attorney from the DA’s Special Victims Unit, said there was a sense of fear in the air following the attack. “The community of Valley Stream was literally terrorized,” she said. “Women were afraid to go out of their houses.”

In the first attack, Peterkin, then 16, followed the woman from the Valley Stream train station. The victim, who was pregnant at the time, was eventually able to fight him off. Shortly after she was found by her family, terrified, alone and beaten, Burke explained.

At the state park, in broad daylight, Peterkin attacked a woman who was out walking. He strangled her and dragged her into the woods, then beat and raped her. Burke stated that after he fled, the bloodied and half-naked victim was able to make her way out to the street, where she sought help.

Burke also noted that Peterkin, of Springfield Gardens, was convicted of three separate sexual assaults in Queens as a juvenile. “With each incident, his level of violence has escalated,” she said. “Women in general are not safe with him on the streets.”

Delligatti, in his remarks, said the court system clearly failed because Peterkin was able to continue his attacks even after three convictions. The judge said that if Peterkin was dealt with properly the first time, the two women might never have become victims.

Peterkin did not address the court. The victim from the state park attack did. She recalled how he asked her details about her life, then punched her in the face repeatedly, leaving her with a broken nose and broken ribs, along with mental anguish.

“Since Sept. 1, my life has been turned upsidedown,” she said. “What kind of animal, what kind of deviant does this to someone who was just out on a beautiful walk?”

The victim called Peterkin a coward, a lowlife and a bully, and said she has experienced many restless nights since the attacks. She said his arrest must have come as a “jolt of reality” for him, when he would no longer have any attacks to plot or unsuspecting victims to prey upon.

She told him that he will have to live with the label of “serial sexual predator” his entire life. Peterkin will be required to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison.

The victim added that she felt the 20-year sentence, which was agreed to when Peterkin pleaded guilty, was too lenient. “How could that ever be enough justice for the part of my life that you stole from me and will never get back?” she asked.

Moving forward, she said she will take on the next chapter in her life which will be helping other victims of sexual attacks. Peterkin, wearing a light blue button-down shirt and black slacks during the sentencing, did not look at his victim, staring only down at the table or straight ahead.

His attorney, Michael Dreishpoon, of Forest Hills, requested that Peterkin be placed in an appropriate facility where he can get into a behavioral health program while incarcerated. According to the District Attorney’s office, Peterkin was diagnosed with a conduct disorder and sexual sadism disorder by a psychologist after his arrest.

Dreishpoon also presented a petition to the judge asking that Peterkin be allowed to keep his dreadlocks in prison. Delligatti responded that decisions on both questions would be up to the Department of Corrections.

Peterkin was also sentenced to 20 years of post-release supervision. Delligatti said he would recommend to the state attorney general that Peterkin have an Article 10 proceeding when he gets out of jail, which could result in civil confinement.

The judge also granted orders of protection for the two victims. He said while he understands no sentence would be harsh enough for the ordeal that the two women suffered, he hoped it would bring them some closure.