Update (September 13, 2019): A white truck driver in Texas received a life sentence Wednesday after brutally beating a 12-year-old Black girl at a bus stop in 2018.
According to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, 36-year-old Terry Wayne King II was convicted of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury and attempted aggravated kidnapping.
“The girl fought back as her offender struck and choked her, resulting in the attacker's DNA being recovered from her hands, later leading to a positive match with King's DNA,” the district attorney’s office stated.
According to Dallas News, Dorika Uwimana had to receive a heart transplant after she was choked and beaten on April 19, 2018.
KTVT-TV reported that Uwimana spoke in Swahili at the trial Monday, saying King asked her for help, then hit and choked her.
Uwimana was walking to her bus stop near Western Hills Elementary School when King threw her to the ground and choked her, ABC affiliate WFAA reported.
Uwimana’s family came to the U.S. after escaping violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and had been living in Fort Worth for a few years before the attack, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Uwimana’s father, Twizere Buhinja, testified through an interpreter at the trial.
"Dorika has to take medication because once she stops taking the medication the heart will not work anymore so she will die," Buhinja said, according to WFAA.
U.S. Marshals in Oklahoma City arrested the truck driver on July 18, 2018, in Oklahoma City.
According to WFAA, Pat Hinz of the Fort Worth Police Department said police used surveillance video from about 10 different businesses in the area of the attack to identify King.
“The video from inside a Waffle House – [he] goes into the restroom and is in there for a while. Comes in and out a couple of times. And it’s at that point that we notice that the appearance has changed. Shaved beard. Hair put in a bun,” Hinz said.
King’s motive in the attack is still unclear.
WFAA reported that King had a criminal history for charges of assault, burglary and theft when he was arrested.
Original: After an attack that left a 12-year-old Congolese refugee in the hospital, the young girl is in need of a heart transplant. Her suspected assailant has recently been identified as Terry Wayne King, II.
King approached the young girl while she was walking to school on April 19, CBS DFW reports.
The father of the victim, Twizere Buhinga, described what happened from there, detailing how King pretended to be in need of help to lure his daughter. “He told my daughter, ‘I need help.’ My daughter said, ‘Right now, I go to school, but I can give you help. Which help you need?’”
That is when King grabbed and choked the young girl, manhandling her and forcing her body to the ground. Though she was able to get away, Twizere’s daughter is now in need of a heart transplant.
“She’s a fighter; she’s a survivor,” Fort Worth Police Detective Pat Hemz said. “I think her faith, the faith that her family has given her, the support that she has had is what kept us going on this case. She was an inspiration to find a [resolution] to this case.”
King was found in Oklahoma City. According to police, King lived in Fort Worth for about four or five years and moved shortly after the attack. Concerns have been raised as to whether the young girl was his first victim, considering his job as a truck driver. Officers are currently contacting other law enforcement agencies to question possible connections.
According to Oklahoma’s News Channel 4, King is currently in jail facing felony charges.
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