Peter BlandinoThe Patriot Ledger
QUINCY ‒ A Dedham Superior Court Judge sentenced Tuen Kit Lee, the so-called "bad breath rapist," to 18 to 20 years for four counts of aggravated rape, to be served concurrently. In 2007 a jury found Lee guilty of raping a young woman, but he fled to California before a verdict was reached.
Judge Joseph F. Leighton Jr. also sentenced Lee, 56, to five years probation following his release for kidnapping and assault charges. Probation conditions include G.P.S. monitoring, no contact with the victim, sex offender treatment and registering as a sex offender.
Lee's lawyer, Philip Tracy, said said he would appeal the sentence, which he described as excessive.
“The State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and Quincy Police never forgot about this case, and that persistence finally led to Lee’s capture in California,” District Attorney Michael Morrissey said in a statement. "We strongly believed that a substantial period of incarceration was appropriate given the brutality of the crime and demonstrated lack of remorse.”
Assistant District Attorney Lisa Beatty recommended a stiffer sentence of 28 to 30 years, which would have kept Lee behind bars until at least age 84.
Beatty said Lee attacked the young woman, an immigrant from China just embarking on her adult life, "in one of the scariest ways possible, binding her with zip ties face down in her bedroom, choking her and raping her multiple times.
"(Lee's behavior) makes it difficult for women to feel comfortable living alone and walking alone," Beatty said.
'I still feel his arms around my neck.' Victim's letter read aloud during hearing
Beatty read an impact statement written by the victim, who viewed the hearing remotely. It detailed her daily struggle to cope with the lasting and severe psychological consequences resulting from her trauma.
"I still wake up trembling in the middle of the night," she wrote. "I haven't got rid of this devastating nightmare."
The victim listed adverse effects of the assault including suicidal thoughts, vivid flashbacks, difficulty forming trusting relationships, anxiety around male doctors, difficulty being intimate and feelings of isolation and withdrawal.
"I still feel his arms around my neck," she wrote. "I will have to live with this for the rest of my life."
Defense says Lee was assualted in jail, eloped due to PTSD
Tracy recommended 8 to 10 years in prison, the punishment he said prosecutors were considering at the time of the trial. He defended Lee's elopement, saying that upon his initial arrest, he was severely beaten, even bitten, by fellow inmates, attacks which a psychologist testified left him with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Tracy noted that the jury which convicted Lee of aggravated rape and assault found him not guilty of home invasion. He said that Lee claims the meeting was prearranged.
In California, Lee lived under the alias "Randy" Lee. There he married and and led an unoffensive life for 13 years," Tracy said.
"Prior to this incident, he had no record," Tracy said. "He left and started a new life. He has no record there. He did not commit these acts again."
The history of the case
Almost 17 years ago, Lee skipped bail just before a jury began deliberations. Convicted in absentia of aggravated rape, he managed to evade justice until May 28, when authorities arrested him in northern California.
At a pretrial hearing in early June, Lee's attorney Philip Tracy described his client as depressed and possibly in need of psychiatric care.
Lee, a Chinese national, was convicted of raping a waitress in her early 20s who worked for him at the Kagasawa Japanese restaurant in Quincy on Feb. 2, 2005.
At trial, prosecutors said Lee broke into the woman's home and forced himself upon her at knifepoint. The woman told police that although the attacker was masked, she could recognize him as her boss by his foul breath. Lee bound the woman to the bed, fastening her wrists to the bedposts using plastic ties, according to court documents.
After Lee disappeared, forfeiting $100,000 bail, the TV show "America's Most Wanted" ran an episode about his case that aired in late 2007 and featured an interview with Quincy police lead investigator John Menz.
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Peter Blandino covers Quincy for The Patriot Ledger. Contact him at pblandino@patriotledger.com.
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