By: CHRISTOPHER RUVO/Courier Times
“Infidel women are war booty”- who can blame this poor fella for following his religion? Under Islamic law, she was “cat-meat who deserved to be raped…”
Bending down and trying to hide from the camera, Khalid Altawarh, 37, of 89 South Main Street, Lambertville goes by the alias Dave Shookby. A native of the middle eastern country Jordan, is being escorted from Magisterial District Judge, Robert Gaffney chambers Friday night after being charged with the attempted murder and rape of a Plumstead Twp. woman.
A New Hope man is in Bucks County Prison facing charges that he raped, robbed, beat and ultimately tried to kill a Plumstead woman at her home before stealing her vehicle and fleeing, police said.
What police described as a more than three-hour torture session ended when the woman’s friend stopped by her home to check on her when she did not arrive for work Friday morning.
The accused, Khalid Altawarh, 37, a restaurateur who goes by the alias Dave Shookby, was arrested traveling in the woman’s vehicle a little before 1 p.m. near Peddler’s Village in Buckingham.
“The brutality and violence this victim endured is mind-numbing,” said First Assistant District Attorney David W. Zellis. “Our community should be grateful that she had a friend who checked on her well-being and ultimately saved her life.”
Altawarh, who lives on South Main Street, owned what authorities described as a shuttered Lambertville restaurant called Moustache. Charged with attempted homicide, rape, robbery and related offenses, he was sent to Bucks County Prison when he could not pay the 10 percent of $2 million bail set by on-call District Judge Robert E. Gaffney.
During his Friday night arraignment, a defiant Altawarh cursed at reporters and police and muttered insults. Considered a violent threat, Altawarh, his black hair pulled to a scraggly ponytail, was shackled at the wrists and ankles.
“These are serious charges,” Altawarh moaned at one point. “I didn’t kill anybody.”
Court papers say Altawarh and the victim knew each other well. He arrived at her home about 6 a.m. and asked her for a ride to a bus station in Flemington. She agreed, but Altawarh allegedly had other intentions. Records said he waited for the woman to get dressed, then attacked.
During the assault, he raped her, beat her with a rock and attempted to tie her up with a jump rope, among other harrowing details, court papers said. He also held a knife to her throat and demanded money, telling her he would kill her, records said.
The woman took him to her safe and gave him cash. At one point she fled outside, but he ran her down and brought her back inside, said documents.
For much of the morning, Altawarh allegedly forced her to remain in the kitchen. Then there was a knock at the front door around 9:30 a.m. It was the woman’s friend, visiting to see if she was all right. Altawarh answered the door, and when he did, the woman ran out of the house screaming, records said.
The woman’s friend got her into his vehicle, drove from the scene and called 911. Altawarh fled in the alleged victim’s vehicle. A little more than three hours later, he was spotted driving in Buckingham and arrested.
Plumstead
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I actually know this scumbag. To be fair, this guy is not religious at all. He wouldn’t know a Koran from a cook book. He is just a paranoid, mentally ill guy that was doing a lot of hard drugs and drinking a lot. He may harbor some unsavory cultural ideas from Jordan but religion had nothing to do with this guy being f***ed up.
I agree with “me”. I knew this guy, and religion played no part in his life. I think he snapped when his girlfriend broke up with him.