After a Christian woman was robbed and sexually assaulted on the streets of NYC while attempting to leaving a church service, her pastor has warned her attackers to be prepared for God to "lay a hand on them", as "nobody does evil and goes scot-free".
According to the New York Daily News, the 50-year-old woman, a Liberian immigrant, was assaulted Tuesday night in Queens while walking from the Celestial Church of Christ to the train.
Five men, two of them carrying guns, approached her, robbing her of money, her debit card and her cellphone. The men then forced her to disrobe and sexually assaulted her, according to police.
"They tell me, 'You don't have money so take off your clothes!'" the victim told The News. "I said, 'What? In the middle of the street?'"
"They said, 'If you don't do that, I'll shoot you,'" she said. "So I did what I had to do."
After the traumatizing event, the woman ran back to church for help.
"I'm downstairs in the office and I heard her screaming," Pastor Kehinde Oyetunde said. "She was crying and shivering. I called the cops right away. The cops came around, then they consoled her, then they said, 'Take us to where this happened.'"
"She was crying and her face was full of rubbish," he added. "She had her clothes in her hands. She said that they pulled a gun on her and took her stuff, then wanted to sleep with her. She lied and told them she was an HIV patient and to please leave her alone."
He issued a strong warning to her attackers: "They should be prepared that God is going to lay a hand on them," he said. "I'm sure of that. Nobody does evil and goes scot-free, especially when you lay your hand on a woman of Christ."
He added, "I know by God's grace they will get them."
The victim was treated at a hospital. Oyetunde picked her up from the hospital about 5 a.m. and brought her home.
"This is horrible," the pastor said. "She is a very kind woman. She's been with my church for 10 years."
The woman told reporters that the men called her a "stupid African woman" and hit her in the face, leaving her with bruises.
"There are just mean, hooligan guys who wanted to rob and sleep with somebody," the victim said of her tormentors. "If they just wanted money, they should have left. But they wanted more."
Currently, the five men are still at large, according to the AP. Police believe all five men are in their 20s, and they do not believe the victim know her attackers, reports CBS News.
