Rape Of 7-Year Old At Apartment Building Spotlights Inadequate Security Issues
A 7-year girl was gang raped at a crime-ridden apartment building in Trenton, New Jersey after her stepsister sold her to a group of men at a party according to news sources. The incident occurred at Rowan Towers owned by Interstate Realty and Management Company. According to news sources, there have been many lapses of security at this apartment building despite complaints by tenants requesting cameras and a lot of other things to improve their security and safety concerns. A spokesperson for the owner stated that they lack the expertise to handle security on their own and will hire an outside consultant. The apartment complex sits on a stretch of West State Street near downtown Trenton surrounded by blocks of abandoned and boarded up homes, yet it is fronted by a well manicured lawn and features a colorful playground and basketball courts. Safety and privacy of tenants and residents should be and must be a top priority for owners and operators of apartment homes. As this case reveals, many times this is simply not the case. Many times accidents such as this occur at apartment complexes due to poor lighting, inadequate security, and lack of easily affordable technology and security devices such as closed circuit cameras. Because of such inadequate security, many unsuspecting guests or tenants are robbed, shot, killed, raped, stabbed, or assaulted.
Since 1979, the experienced Pennsylvania inadequate security and premises liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily have aggressively represented clients who have been injured on other premises including hotels, motels, inns, apartment homes, shopping malls, casinos, and cruise ships. We have been able to successfully prove that the breakdown in the owners security systems cannot only encourage criminal activity but can also result in property owner’s liability to the crime victim for negligence. Our experienced attorneys and investigators work and carefully analyze the circumstances of the personal injury and personal offense and work with law enforcement and investigators to perform our own investigation to determine whether or not inadequate security concern led to the criminal offense. We also examine past incidents of victim abuse at the location and surrounding areas that should put the property owner on actual or constructive notice that the facility is potentially dangerous to customers and visitors.
