Connecticut men get three years for gang rape of woman

The last of 4 Connecticut men who took part in the gang rape of a 24 year old New Canaan woman was sentenced to 3 years in prison in Superior Court on Wednesday, August 12. Wilkens Placide, 26, of Norwalk, CT, pled guilty to 3rd degree sexual assault, 1st degree unlawful restraint, and battery on a peace officer for an incident which happened July 30, 2007. Placide and a 2nd defendant, Catragne Moresca, 28 and of Stamford, pled no contest under the Alford doctrine March 19 of this year after jurors were picked in their joint trial. two other defendants pled no contest earlier.

Placide, Moresca and the two other defendants -- Cliff Cenelien and Carl Colas, both 21 and from Stamford -- were accused of taking part in a gang rape of the victim during a night of drug use and partying. The incident began July 30, 2007, and took place over a span of 14 hours in three different houses in Stamford and Norwalk.

Cenelien and Colas each pleaded guilty to unlawful restraint under the Alford Doctrine in June 2008 and agreed to serve two years of a five-year prison sentence, followed by five years of probation.

Darnell Crosland, Placide's attorney, said his client and Moresca pled no contest due to racial factors. "They might look at the victim as a white girl from New Canaan and these Haitian men she accused. It was too much of a risk." The defendants said that the sexual encounter was consensual, but the victim, on probation for drug use, wanted an excuse to escape possible revocation.