THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 10, 1996 TAG: 9608100259
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 83 lines
Lewis Smith is desperate to find his runaway 13-year-old daughter because he is afraid she will become a victim again.
The girl apparently walked away from a relative's home in the Norview area early Sunday morning. Smith is worried because the girl ran away in February 1995 and was raped by several males within 24 hours.
The missing girl is Yasmin-Renee Natasha Smith. She had shoulder-length hair in braids when she disappeared.
The Virginian-Pilot does not usually identify victims of sexual assaults without their consent, but has made an exception in this case because the girl's father asked for help in finding her and because she no longer lives in this area.
``She's been gone almost a week now,'' Smith said Friday.
Smith, 38, has flashbacks to the night when his daughter vanished in that same neighborhood. Their lives changed forever.
``I want her home,'' he said. ``She's got to be scared and confused.''
Smith believes his daughter ran away this time because she could not face going back to court to testify against another alleged attacker. She and her father had traveled to Norfolk from their home in Georgia so the girl could testify in juvenile court Monday.
``She's sick of this,'' he said. ``This case has been going on since the 17th of February, 1995. Some of the defendants have had as many as seven continuances. . .
``She had expressed a lot of concern about going to court because the judge hadn't done anything to the boys. She didn't see why she should go to court to be a victim again.''
The girl has been in therapy since shortly after she was raped, her father said.
Seven juveniles - the youngest 14 - were charged with raping the girl last year. Some charges were heard in juvenile court, some in Circuit Court.
His daughter's testimony already has helped to convict two adults and five boys who were juveniles at the time. Two more cases are pending.
Darrell Cuffee, 21, pleaded guilty to statutory rape and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with eight suspended.
Cuffee's twin brother, Derrick, was convicted of indecent liberties and sentenced to a three-year suspended term with two years of supervised probation.
Two juveniles, who are now adults, received jail terms for statutory rape. The lengths of their sentences were not available Friday.
Two other juveniles were tried in juvenile court and given suspended commitments to the Department of Juvenile Justice, an indeterminate term of supervised probation, 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay restitution. Each also had to write an essay about respecting women.
Another juvenile is scheduled for trial Sept. 17.
Andre T. Chapman, now an adult, pleaded guilty to statutory rape in Circuit Court and is to be sentenced Sept. 25.
Raheem Hatcher, now an adult, will be tried for statutory rape in Circuit Court on Sept. 16. His trial was scheduled for last Monday and had to be continued when the girl did not show up.
Smith is worried that his daughter may run into some of these same youths again in Norview where she disappeared.
``These guys are still out there,'' Smith said. ``They haven't had anything done to them to be rehabilitated.''
Smith said he has been threatened by one of the nine, who told him: ``I would do it again.'' Smith said he took out a warrant in connection with the threat.
Lauri Hogge, who prosecuted the girl's attackers, said she is not sure why the girl would have run away.
``I think it's probably a combination of things,'' Hogge said. ``I think this case has had a big impact on her running away, but I don't think it's the sole factor.''
Smith was living out of state in February 1995 when his daughter disappeared from a relative's home in Norview. He found her in the bedroom of a vacant Norfolk apartment with a man who was pulling up his pants. The father later identified Derrick Cuffee as that man.
These days, Smith drives the streets with a cellular phone by his side, looking for his daughter.
``My greatest fear is losing her,'' he said. ``I've never gone six days without knowing where my child is. It's like a big black hole and nothing fills that hole. Your stomach feels like the inside of a volcano.''
Anyone with information should call Crime Line at 664-4040. ILLUSTRATION: Yasmin-Renee Natasha Smith disappeared from a
relative's home in Norview early last Sunday morning.
KEYWORDS: MISSING CHILD RUNAWAY by CNB