11-Year-Old Victim Takes Stand In Highland Park Child Rape Case
HIGHLAND PARK (WWJ) -- Police in Highland Park seem to think they have their man when it comes to the rape of an 11-year-old girl.
Ramirez Dewberry, 24, listened to testimony from his accuser in court on Friday. The victim carefully described what her attacker did to her, saying he "asked her if she could twerk" and then told her to pull her pants down.
According to police, the girl was grabbed the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014, as she walked to school along Church St. in the area of McNichols and John R. Police said the attacker dragged the child at gunpoint into an abandoned home where he sexually assaulted her.
After an investigation that included door-to-door canvassing, Dewberry was arrested in Jackson while riding a Greyhound bus to Detroit from Chicago.
Outside of the courtroom, some are not sure who to believe, including Ewanda Wyndella who knows Dewberry.
"It's a fifty-fifty situation, and our community is torn," Wyndella said. "I am not sure at this point and I'm definitely on the little girl's side, she seemed to be very accurate."
Dewberry is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Court-appointed defense lawyer William Winters believes his client will be cleared of the charges.
"They've got the wrong guy; they've got the wrong guy," he told WWJ's Vickie Thomas and other reporters. "He does not fit the description and…there are red flags shouting reasonable doubt about Mr. Dewberry's case."
Among those red flags, Winters said, is an issue with DNA evidence.
"They've got a preliminary profile hit, but there's contamination issues all over the crime scene," he said.