Gyasi Terran appeared in court Monday to face sexual assault
charges for allegedly sodomizing a mentally disabled man.
Also with this story: a video of the crime scene and a map of
where the incident occurred.
Gyasi Terran appeared in court Monday to face sexual assault charges for allegedly sodomizing a mentally disabled man.
Terran will receive a public defender and enter a plea 1:30 p.m., June 17, at the Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Martin. Terran, 24, stands accused of raping a 19-year-old man in a Miller Park bathroom early the morning of June 4, police said. Judge Teresa Guerrero-Daley kept Terran’s bail at $150,000 Monday and also forbade him from contacting the victim.
Police arrested Terran outside Togo’s on First Street Thursday afternoon thanks to an anonymous online Gilroy Dispatch reader who saw Terran’s photo. Henry Provost, owner of Simply Romance next door, said he has known Terran, or “Goo,” since the suspect was in third grade and that Goo would never rape another man. Since then, another long-time friend has vouched for Goo, and a female acquaintance wrote a character testament, but others remain skeptical.
April Shimabukuro, 21, wrote in an e-mail that she has never felt uncomfortable around Goo during their three-year friendship, and she lauded him for comforting her throughout her recent pregnancy. He even browsed family magazines at Eagle Ridge Liquors, according to owner Paul Sandhu.
“Goo knows a lot of people in this town, and everyone we know agrees that he couldn’t have done that,” Shimabukuro wrote in an e-mail. “I know he can do some stupid things like getting into fights with people, but he would never rape a mentally handicapped man – he wouldn’t even rape a woman – and I know he likes women because he’s got a different girl (chasing after) him all the time.”
But John Martin has a different take on Terran. The correctional officer at the Elmwood Jail said he filed a police report last summer after Terran threatened him in front of Eagle Ridge Liquors, having recognized the officer from his stint behind bars. In late May 2007, Terran was arrested for battery, domestic battery and resisting arrest. Then in November, he was arrested again on warrants for battery, domestic battery and resisting arrest.
“He wasn’t the biggest trouble maker, but he’s definitely confrontational,” said Martin, adding that he has routinely seen Terran “just hanging around” the area along First Street. A manager at Togo’s, who declined to give her last name, corroborated Martin’s observations and said Terran annoys the staff at the sandwich shop by lingering outside.
Terran’s latest arrest occurred about 36 hours after the alleged rape. About 2:30 a.m. June 4, Terran met the teen at the 7-Eleven on First Street, police said. The two walked about two blocks away to the women’s bathroom in the park, 7851 Carmel St., between First and Second streets, across the road from Brownell Middle School.
Shortly thereafter, the teen returned to the 7-Eleven and asked the clerk to call 911, police said. On the phone, he told police he had been raped.
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