Florida man, 20, rapes neighbor, 35, and then offers to do her yard work to make up for it
A Florida man who was convicted of raping his neighbor at knifepoint and then offering to do some work around her house to make up for it has been sentenced to half-a-century in prison at a West Palm Beach court.
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, when the case first went to trial in October 2018, 20-year-old Timothy Walding's defense attorney Adam Farkas had claimed that his encounter with the victim was consensual.
However, the victim, a 35-year-old mother of two, testified in the courtroom on Monday, March 25, that it was anything but, detailing how the assault was traumatic and changed her life forever. She described how, at 4 am on October 6, 2017, a then-18-year-old Walding broke into her home through the front door and appeared in her master bedroom while wearing a mask. Then, over the next 1.5 hours, she said she was tied up and threatened with a knife as Walding raped her on the bed and forced her to perform a sex act on him.
After it was over, the victim said he let her get dressed and that they talked until he eventually removed his mask and confirmed his identity. She told detectives Walding bragged about picking the lock on her front door with a fishhook and chided her for not deadbolting her door.
She said he told her he "didn't really want to do this but I had to do it," and that when she pushed him for his reasons, he replied with, "Obviously it wasn't a spontaneous thing and I had this plan."
The victim said Walding also asked her if he could make amends by working on her yard or fixing something in her home, an offer which she declined. She said he then asked her not to tell anyone what happened and that they shook on the deal. But the minute he walked back to his house next door, she called 911 and reported the rape.
Walding was subsequently charged with sexual battery with a deadly weapon/physical force, false imprisonment while in possession of a weapon, and burglary with assault or battery while armed for the rape. He was found guilty of the charges by jurors this past week. The Sun-Sentinel reported that Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss doled out the mandatory minimum sentence of 50 years, with credit for the 18-odd months already spent in custody, which will ensure that Walding is locked up until almost his 70th birthday. Walding also has been declared a sexual predator.
Under state law, Walding must serve each day of his punishment without the possibility of a shorter term for good behavior. Walding’s sentences for the other two counts will run at the same time.