A longtime registered sex offender was ordered held Wednesday in the brutal rape of a 12-year-old on her way to school in Pleasantville.
Horece McZeke, 44, is accused of sexually assaulting the girl after striking her with a hammer as she walked the wooded trail between Brighton and Wellington avenues near the Pleasantville Recreation Center on her way to school Dec. 2.
His criminal history dates to the 1996 rape where he and two others broke into an Egg Harbor Township woman’s home, where they raped and robbed her. McZeke was sentenced to 11 years in prison and has been on lifetime supervision since.
In that time, he has served at least one other prison term on gun conviction.
While McZeke was jailed on that violation, the rape investigation resulted in more charges, including three counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault.
The girl told police she saw the man pass her, and then was struck on the head from behind, which briefly knocked her unconscious, according to the charges.
She awoke to the suspect dragging her through the woods. The girl told police her head was shaking and everything became blurry. She was then struck seven more times in the head, and fell to the ground, the affidavit states.
The man told her, “if she screamed, he would make it worse.”
He then raped her. The girl’s cell phone was also taken. Another man found that, but was not in the area at the time of the attack, according to the evidence. The girl also said it was not him.
The girl’s injuries included a laceration to her head that required a stitch.
Surveillance video shows the suspect arrive around 7 a.m. Dec. 2 in a dark Chevy Impala, which is the same type of vehicle driven by McZeke, Assistant Prosecutor Erika Halayko said. He is seen entering the path at 7:20 a.m., and then running with a limp at 7:33 a.m.
McZeke’s wife confirmed to law enforcement that her husband has a torn meniscus that would cause him to limp if he ran, Halayko told the judge.
Public defender Yvonne Maher said her client “vigorously maintains it was not him” and the case is purely circumstantial, with no forensic evidence tying him to the crime.
But Halayko said the evidence is significant, including not just surveillance, but the victim’s description, pinging McZeke’s vehicle and victim’s cell phone to the same area and a K-9 dog finding the victim’s scent near where McZeke parks his work truck and private vehicle.
McZeke was also late to work that day, according to his employer.
Maher also said McZeke was in the process of having his address changed. He and his wife own the home, which they had been using as a rental property, she said.
In September, they started cleaning it out to live in together. The couple has been married for three years, and McZeke has five stepchildren as a result, Maher said. Their ages were not mentioned in court.
The case shows either “planning and design” by the defendant or that he was “predatory and opportunistic,” Judge Dorothy Garrabrant said before ordering him held.
“His proclivities and inability to control them demonstrate a propensity for violence,” she said.
If convicted, McZeke could face life in prison under the Jessica Lunsford Act, which requires a sentence of 25 years to life for the aggravated sexual assault of a victim younger than 13.
