NYC man who randomly punched TikTok influencer convicted for that assault and other attacks

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who randomly punched a woman walking down a Manhattan street nearly two years ago has been convicted of hate crime charges for that assault and several others.

A New York state court judge on Wednesday found Skiboky Stora guilty of assaulting, stalking and harassing strangers in what prosecutors described as a series of anti-female, anti-white, and antisemitic incidents between 2023 and 2024.

The 42-year-old Brooklyn resident represented himself during the weekslong trial in Manhattan court.

“I never did anything racist to anybody, and I never did anything discriminating against anybody, and I never tried to injure anybody,” he said in his closing remarks, the New York Post reports.

Prosecutors, however, showed a video of Stora harassing a Jewish couple as well as videos he recorded of himself shouting and harassing white people, according to the Post.

“The victims were met with both violence and harassment simply because of who they are,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement after the conviction. “Hate crimes strike at the core of our city’s values and sense of safety.”

Stora was remanded into custody and his sentencing is scheduled for April 14.

Messages left on his Instagram account, where he claims to be the “great great grandson” of the Black nationalist Marcus Garvey and running for governor as a Republican, weren’t immediately returned.

The March 25, 2024, assault on a then-23-year-old woman attracted wide attention after the victim posted about it on TikTok and several other people described similar attacks.

Stora’s punch knocked the woman to the ground and caused pain and swelling on the left side of her head, prosecutors said.

Months earlier, prosecutors said, Stora elbowed a 17-year-old student in the neck and said, “You people think you can do whatever you want,” using a curse word.

He also elbowed a 37-year-old woman in the shoulder, causing bruising, in another incident, and then harassed a couple who had photographed him tearing down posters of Israeli hostages.

Stora followed the husband and wife, shouting anti-white and antisemitic threats and insults including, “Die, Jews, die!” according to prosecutors.