Two women raped in apartment lose lawsuit against complex

Bill Gang

Tuesday, March 16, 1999 | 10:38 a.m.

When a District Court jury rejected a lawsuit by two women who were raped inside their apartment near UNLV, they sat in stunned silence for a few moments and then crumpled into uncontrollable sobs.

Outside District Judge Mark Gibbons' courtroom, the tears continued despite efforts by companions to comfort them.

The women had sued the Oasis Apartments, claiming they had been falsely lured into renting there by claims that the 300-unit complex was safe and guarded by a "courtesy patrol."

The lawsuit alleged there were no meaningful patrols and that information about numerous crimes and police calls -- including the discovery of a baby's body in an apartment Dumpster -- was kept from them.

The women's nightmare began about 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 4, 1994, when one woman, then a 19-year-old UNLV student, returned home from a sales job only to be accosted in the parking lot by a gun-wielding bandit.

Not satisfied with the $2 she had in her purse, he demanded they go to her apartment, where her 21-year-old roommate was asleep.

She also had very little money, and the women testified that the assailant said he was "going to get something" if he couldn't get cash. He then tied them up on a bed and sexually assaulted them for more than an hour.

They fought through tears as they described on the witness stand what they endured, and they told of the nightmares they still suffer.

The rapist was never apprehended.

While defense attorney Richard Parnell said he sympathized with the women's ordeal, he argued to the jury that the attack was not the fault of the apartment complex.

The jury heard evidence that there had been nearly 250 calls to Metro from the complex in the year before the attack and the information had not been given to the women although they asked.

They also heard testimony that the "courtesy patrols" were only between 6 and 10 p.m. and were conducted by a former fry cook who was getting a rebate on his rent for the service.