Trial begins in child rape, dad's slaying

A New Cassel man was at a deli near his home last September, when his cellphone rang. The call was from someone who, he believed, had raped his 10-year-old daughter four days earlier, according to the testimony of the man's friend, Angel Leon, in Nassau County Court Tuesday.

The alleged rapist, Ulises Bonilla, 23, of Westbury, told the man that he was waiting for him near the man's home, testified Leon, who was with the man at the time.

Newsday is not naming the man because his daughter is an alleged rape victim.

When the two men arrived, Bonilla -- who had gotten into a fistfight with the father the morning after the alleged rape -- stabbed the 43-year-old man to death on his own front lawn, prosecutor Zeena Abdi said in her opening statement at Bonilla's trial.

Bonilla, who is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree rape and other charges, faces 25 years to life in prison, if convicted.

"He was bleeding," Leon said on the stand Tuesday afternoon. "He was on his last breath, and he did not make it to the inside of his house."

But Bonilla's lawyer, Daniel Millman of Roslyn, said in his opening statement that not a single witness saw Bonilla stab the man. Indeed, neither Leon, nor the man's wife, both of whom took the stand Tuesday, said they saw Bonilla holding a knife. Both, however, said Bonilla and his victim were standing extremely close together.

"There is no physical evidence linking my client to the murder," Millman said in his opening statement.

The father and his daughter were acquaintances of Bonilla, who lived near them in the same neighborhood.

Prosecutors said that on Sept. 24, 2010, Bonilla lured a 10-year-old girl into a Westbury Park restroom and raped her. Two of the girl's friends, who were with her at the time, ran to her home and told her father about the attack, prosecutors said.

But when the man called police, his daughter denied that she had been raped, said Nassau police Officer Christopher Bendetto, who testified Tuesday. Police did not arrest Bonilla then, Bendetto testified.