On Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a now 50-year-old woman was attacked at about 5 a.m. in Journal Square as she walked to the PATH station, Rana said. On Jan. 7, 2002, he raped a now 27-year-old woman in Journal Square as she walked to the PATH station.
Three days later, on Jan. 10, 2002, he sexually assaulted a woman who is now 54 on Kennedy Boulevard near West 24th Street in Bayonne as she walked home from a public laundry, Rana said. She was dragged into the parking garage at Midtown Community School and attacked.
Perhaps the most violent attack was on Feb. 17, 2002, in an industrial area of Newark Connell grabbed a woman on her way to a movie theater and dragged her into a truck yard. Hidden between two trucks, he punched her in the face multiple times before sexually assaulting the woman, who is now 34, Rana said.
Some of the victims were in court during sentencing. The victim of Connell's last attack said that "Even in church, I'm fearful of people behind me waiting to receive communion." A second victim said that "I want him to pay for what he has done. I don't know why he did this to us." A third victim read a letter saying that she "can still feel the repeated bashing of a rock against my face. As I pleaded for my life and said, 'I can't breathe,' he hit me again and I thought I was going to die."
Hudson County Judge Joseph Isabella said that the crimes Connell committed were the worst he's seen during a decade on the bench. "These are horrific, horrific crimes that have devastated the lives of four women -- horrific. He is a complete sociopath. He certainly does not belong walking in the streets of this community. He beat them mercilessly and raped them. In my 10 years, I have seen a lot but I don't think I've seen worse than this."
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