Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin today announced that Christopher Swiridowsky, age 34, was found guilty on Friday by a Providence County Superior Court jury for the October 28, 2007 rape of a 26-year old Providence woman. Swiridowsky was found guilty of three counts of first degree sexual assault and one count of assault with intent to commit first degree sexual assault in a five day trial presided over by Superior Court Justice Jeffrey A. Lanphear.
During the course of the trial, the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that in the early morning hours on October 28, 2007 Swiridowsky pulled a 26-year old woman into his truck and raped her at gunpoint. After the assault, the defendant pushed the victim naked on to the street and drove away in his truck. The assailant was not known to the victim.
The woman ran to her residence where friends called the Providence Police and Rescue. The victim was treated at Woman and Infants Hospital, where a rape kit was conducted, including a buccal swab, which tested positive for seminal fluids. A DNA profile was obtained and entered into the FBI's Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, which resulted in no match at the time. The victim suffered bruising on her body and face.
On October 25, 2009, the defendant was involved in a hit and run crash in Providence where he struck three individuals, causing one of the individuals to become lodged in the windshield. The defendant abandoned the vehicle with the victim still lodged in the windshield, fled the scene and was later captured by police. In June 2010, Swiridowsky was convicted of leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury. A DNA sample was taken from Swiridowsky upon conviction. The sample was entered into CODIS in January 2011, which resulted in a match to the 2007 sexual assault. A grand jury indicted the defendant for the sexual assault in November 2011.
The defendant is held without bail pending sentencing, which is scheduled for September 27, 2013.
Providence Police Detective Doug Allin led the investigation and Assistant Attorney General Daniel Carr Guglielmo and Special Assistant Attorney General Gina Lopes prosecuted the case on behalf of the Office of Attorney General.