A man arrested for allegedly punching several women in the face in random attacks in New York City has now been charged with hate crime in addition to assault.
Skiboky Stora was taken into custody in March following an “unprovoked” attack on a young woman in Manhattan. He was described as “a criminal recidivist with an extensive criminal record”.
The 40-year-old from Brooklyn previously ran for Mayor of New York City and claims to be a descendent of US civil rights activist Marcus Garvey.
He has a following of more than 80,000 on TikTok and appears to be a supporter of former president Donald Trump.
Mr Stora is charged with assaulting, stalking and harassing strangers in a series of anti-female, anti-white, and antisemitic incidents between September of 2023 and March of this year, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said on Tuesday.
On March 25, Stora allegedly assaulted 23-year-old Halley Kate in the Chelsea neighborhood of the city. The incident gained widespread attention after Ms Kate shared it with her 1.2 million TikTok followers shortly after.
The attack on Ms Kate came months after two other assaults in the same neighborhood, prosecutors said.
On September 20 2023, Stora allegedly elbowed a 17-year-old student in the neck and said, “You people think you can do whatever you want,” using a curse word, according to the indictment. Just over a month later on October 26 he elbowed a 37-year-old woman’s left shoulder, causing pain and bruising, prosecutors said.
On November 18, a husband and wife, both 28, were walking their dogs near Union Square when they saw Mr Stora tearing down posters of Israeli hostages and stopped to take a photo, prosecutors said.
After noticing the couple looking at him, Mr Stora allegedly followed them shouting anti-white and antisemitic threats and insults including, “Die, Jews, die!” according to the indictment.
Mr Bragg said in a statement that Stora “allegedly committed a series of hate-motivated incidents against several individuals based on their perceived gender, race and religion.”
Mr Stora was arraigned Tuesday on charges including assault as a hate crime and stalking as a hate crime. He had been charged previously with assault in connection with several cases and pleaded not guilty.
He is representing himself in court and has no attorney, the district attorney’s office said. His next court date is 6 August.
According to WNYW Fox 5, speaking outside the courtroom on Tuesday, “They’re (trying to) indict me man...this guy Alvin Bragg he’s corrupted.”
