DNA Evidence Leads To Sex Assault Charge In Newark: Prosecutors

NEWARK, NJ — A Newark man has been accused of robbing, carjacking and sexually assaulting a woman who stopped to use an ATM on her way home from church two years ago, authorities announced Wednesday.

According to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the assault took place in July of 2019.

The 55-year-old victim told officers that she was driving home from church and stopped to use an ATM on the 1000-block of Bergen Street in Newark. As she was using the machine, a man in a mask held her up at gunpoint and demanded cash, prosecutors said.

The woman said the man ordered her to get back into the car, forced her to drive to a second location and sexually assaulted her in the back of the vehicle.

Investigators with the Newark Police Department and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office later obtained DNA evidence from the sexual assault, which was found to be consistent with that of Austin Be-Kwao, 23, of Newark, prosecutors said.

Be-Kwao is currently being held at Union County Jail, authorities said.

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