By Joe Johnson
A man who was recently convicted of stalking attacking a University of Georgia student in a campus parking deck two years ago on Wednesday was sentenced to 63 years in prison.
The sentence was imposed on 25-year-old Tritavious Malik Harris following his Feb. 3 conviction by a Clarke County Superior Court jury on several charges stemming from the assault that left the 19-year-old woman unconscious on the concrete pavement.
Although the prosecution recommended a 40-year prison term, Judge Lisa Lott imposed a maximum term.
trespass, and theft by taking.
According to a UGA police report, the incident happened early the morning of Sept. 18, when the student was pulled by the hair, punched in the face and then slammed onto the ground by a man who subsequently sexually assaulted and robbed her near the North Campus.
According to the report, at about 2:33 a.m. a UGA police officer spotted the victim lying on a sidewalk on Fulton Street, west of the Tanner Building, which houses some grad students.
When the officer roused the victim, who had visible injuries to her face, hands and arms, she was unable to say what happened, according to the report.
However, the report notes that police reviewed surveillance video camera footage that showed the victim being accosted by a man who “intentionally caused physical injury to (the victim) by dragging her by her hair, punching and slapping her in the face, and slamming her to the ground resulting in losing consciousness.
“While (the victim) was unconscious”, the report continued, “the unknown male dragged her into a dark area and reached into her pants, touching her intimate parts in the process,” according to the report, which noted that during the struggle the suspect grabbed the victim’s shirt and tore off a portion of it.
The suspect then stole the victim’s cellphone before fleeing the area on foot, the report noted.
According to the indictment, the victim suffered a concussion and broken collar bone.
Following the attack, police released surveillance camera images of the suspect which generated leads from the public that helped investigators to identify Harris as the suspect.
UGA police subsequently obtained arrest warrants charging Harris with robbery, aggravated battery, kidnapping, sexual battery, battery, simple assault, and criminal trespass.
Harris was arrested in Jefferson two days after the assault.