He's held for trial in robberies, sex attacks

A former college basketball player who authorities say turned into a rapist and robber has been held for trial in connection with attacks last year in University City and Center City.

During a preliminary hearing yesterday for Domenique Thomas Wilson, the 6-foot-6 24-year-old sat with his hands cuffed and barely flinched as three women testified that he forced his way into their apartments.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Bretschneider told Municipal Court Judge Bradley K. Moss that DNA samples taken from Wilson matched evidence recovered from rape kits from two of the women, who were sexually assaulted.

He faces two counts of rape, four counts of robbery and related charges in the two attacks.

The first attack began at 11:30 p.m. last Oct. 22 inside the Clinton Street Apartments, on Clinton Street near 10th, where Wilson confronted a couple as they were entering an apartment and used a knife to force them inside, authorities have said.

He bound the 29-year-old man and gagged him with a sock, said the woman, who was 25 at the time.

She said Wilson, wearing a ski mask, took her into the bedroom, put a knife to her throat and asked: "Do you have any parents, any siblings . . . Do you want to see them again?"

He put a sock in her mouth and a pillowcase over her head and raped her, the woman said.

Wilson then forced her to take a bath, took her back to the bedroom and tied her up, she said. After Wilson left, she said, she freed herself and her boyfriend and they barricaded the door.

She said Wilson stole credit cards from both and charged $400 to her boyfriend's debit card.

When Bretschneider asked the woman if she could identify Wilson despite his mask that night, the woman left the witness stand and slowly walked toward him.

Leaning in close, she said: "His eyes look like him to me."

In the second attack, two University of Pennsylvania female students were attacked at their apartment, 44th and Spruce streets, at 3 p.m. on Dec. 19.

One roommate, who was 22 at the time, testified that as she was leaving her apartment, a tall man wearing a mask forced her at knifepoint back inside.

She gave him about $225, a bank card and her personal identification number, two cell phones and an iPod. He forced her to put duct tape on her mouth and told her to lie on her bed.

The woman's 24-year-old roommate testified that when she came home, she smelled marijuana, then saw the intruder holding a gun to her roommate's head.

She said that she gave him three credit cards, an iPod and $80. She said he then told her, "You're too pretty to hurt," and repeatedly raped her.

Looking at Wilson from the witness stand, the woman said his lips and neck appear to be the same as the attacker's.

A fourth woman testified that Wilson unsuccessfully tried to force his way into her apartment on Lombard Street near 11th on Oct. 21. The judge dropped charges in that case for lack of evidence.

Wilson, who once played for the Lock Haven University basketball team, is also accused of raping two Lock Haven students on Feb. 1, and of assaulting a third.