Nache Afrika - Repeat Sex Offender - As bad as they come

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"

.........Sarah Tofte

Nache Afrika, described as one of the region’s most dangerous predators, with a history of sex crimes dating to his teenage years, must stay behind bars for the rest of his life to protect society, a judge said Friday.

Afrika, the former Harry Bacon, persisted in claiming his innocence for the late-night sex attack and robbery at a Cheektowaga store 10 years ago.

But two juries convicted him of the crimes, based on strong DNA evidence.

Erie County Judge Sheila A. Di- Tullio denounced him as a “brutal” sex criminal who is “as bad as they come” and reimposed the 75-year prison term another judge gave him at his first trial six years ago.

The rape victim agreed with the sentence.

“The only way to keep society safe from him is to keep him locked up,” she said when contacted at her Arizona home.

Both the mother and father of the victim were in the courtroom for the sentencing.

“It has been a long time, but there was never a moment when our daughter wasn’t willing to face down her attacker and relive that night for a judge and jury,” the mother of the victim said after Friday’s sentencing.

“She wanted some justice for herself and for other survivors of rape and she got that.”

Afrika, 46, who acted as his own lawyer during both trials here, maintained his innocence but claimed he was sympathetic to the sufferings of the victim and her family.

Afrika was convicted of sexually assaulting the clerk and stealing $9,000 from the Marshall’s Store on Union Road in Cheektowaga on Oct. 27, 1998.

Prosecutors Thomas M. Finnerty and Kristin

A. St. Mary, who obtained the second conviction Sept. 20, described Afrika as one of the most dangerous predators the region has ever seen.

An earlier jury convicted Afrika in December 2001, but a state appellate court ordered a new trial.

Finnerty said that when he contacted the rape victim about the new trial, she was eager to testify again to prevent Afrika from “doing the same to someone else.”

Finnerty and St. Mary noted that Afrika’s sex-crime history dates back to his teens, when he served time at the old Masten Park Secure Center of the State Division for Youth, the first time at age 14.

Afrika won’t begin serving his 75-year prison term until he completes a 50-year term he is already serving for the rape of a male store clerk in a Rochester suburb and an unrelated shooting.