A woman who was assaulted and robbed as she was loading her groceries into the car nearly two years ago said she still suffers the effects from the crime.
“Material things can be replaced, but when you take away someone’s inner peace, there’s no getting that back,” the woman wrote in a victim-impact statement read aloud in court Tuesday at a sentencing hearing for Donameche Lacar Davis.
On Aug. 6, 2015, as the woman was putting groceries in her trunk at Food 4 Less, 1724 165th St., Hammond, she heard a man she’d noticed walking behind her wearing a bright, white T-shirt, say, “Give me that.” The man hit her in the face and grabbed her purse. The woman had bruises and swelling on her left cheek, eye, arm and wrist, bruises on both knees and a scratch on her neck. To this day, the woman said she can’t have anyone walk close behind her because she’s fearful.
Deputy Prosecutor Eric Randall said the woman turned 65 two months after the robbery.
Davis, 23, of Hammond, pleaded guilty to robbery, theft and escape in three separate cases.
His grandmother, Barbara Willis, said Davis “just got himself messed up smoking weed and doing things he shouldn’t. I think he done learned his lesson.”
Lake Superior Court Judge Samuel Cappas saw it differently.
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Cappas, citing the robbery case in 2015, a battery with a deadly weapon, intimidation and theft case in October 2016 and 21 felony counts of escape filed in February after Davis was released from Lake County Jail to ICU Monitoring home detention and absconded. “You can’t accumulate 26 charges and say he needs a second chance,” Cappas said.
Davis apologized to the robbery victim, who was present in court. “I’m truly sorry. I was just at a point in my life where I wasn’t thinking straight. I really didn’t mean it,” he said.
“You knocked down a 65-year-old lady and took her money. It was an accident?” Cappas said.
Cappas sentenced Davis to six years on the three cases and said the last two years would be served in Lake County Community Corrections.
As Davis was being escorted from court, he said, “Hey, Granny, put some money on my books for me,” referring to money being deposited into his commissary account at the Lake County Jail.
Cappas found Davis in contempt of court and sentenced him to an additional 60 days in jail, which must be served in its entirety with no credit for good behavior.
Ruth Ann Krause is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.