Maybe she got lippy? <g>
Man Smashes Woman's Face, Pours Fire Ants On Her
Attacker Gets 15 Years Behind Bars
POSTED: 2:58 p.m. EST December 3, 2002
MACON, Ga. -- Authorities say a 19-year-old man who beat his girlfriend's grandmother and poured a cup of fire ants on her used the $300 he stole from her to pay off a drug debt and buy beer and marijuana.
Pearsall Leroy Gerald was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated assault, burglary, armed robbery and car theft charges stemming from the June 12 attack in Macon.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Bobbitt says Gerald told police he attacked the 62-year-old grandmother because he hated her and owed money to a drug dealer. In a bizarre twist, he sprayed the woman with a cup of fire ants he dug up from a neighbor's yard.
He also beat her with a 4-foot wooden stick and kicked her repeatedly in the face, Bobbitt said. Because of the severity of the wounds, it was not clear if the woman was bitten by the ants.
"Her face was not even recognizable," Bobbitt said. "It looked like raw meat."
Authorities said after the attack, Gerald stole $300 from the grandmother that she had gotten as a birthday and Mother's Day present and then fled in the woman's car. He was arrested the next day.
The grandmother has since recovered.
Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
