A young woman identified a Chula Vista man Oct. 13 whom she said raped her at knifepoint and took pictures of her with his cell phone during a rainy night in Balboa Park.
An earlier victim wasn’t sexually assaulted but he drew a knife by his side and she escaped by throwing food at him, according to testimony in the preliminary hearing.
Ismael Hernandez, 27, was ordered to stand trial on four counts of rape, forcible oral copulation, digital penetration, and sexual assault with a cell phone in a May 5 incident.
Hernandez was also ordered to stand trial for sexual battery when he forced the victim to move a cell phone between her buttocks. San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles Rogers dismissed two counts of sexual battery and a second oral copulation charge for insufficient evidence.
Rogers also ordered Hernandez to stand trial for attempted kidnapping in the incident with the earlier victim. A trial date will be set on Oct. 27. Hernandez remains in jail on $5 million bail.
A woman testified she was rolling a suitcase at 9:45 p.m. in the 1600 block of Date Avenue when “all of a sudden he was in my face.” She identified Hernandez as the man who raped her several times.
“He had a knife. He was telling me not to scream or he would stab me,” she said. “He moved me off the sidewalk. He was looking around, up and down the street.”
She said Hernandez forced her to cross Date Street, Sixth Avenue, and “took me into the bushes by the big tree.” She said he forced her to take off her clothes and “he took pictures when I was in that position.”
“I was trying to negotiate my way out of the situation, trying to talk my way out of it,” she said, adding that she told him her son was sick.
“It started raining when I was sitting down in the dark. It was cold. I was shivering. He was forceful,” she testified. “He was very agitated and short tempered.”
The woman said the man did a solo sex act while he forced aher to touch herself with a cell phone. She said he forced her to go to another area behind an electrical box in the 1600 block of Ninth Avenue where she was assaulted again.
“If I had tried to run, there’s no way I could get away from him,” she told the judge. “It was raining. I didn’t think anyone could hear (me). It was really scary and rough.”
She said Hernandez eventually told her she could put her clothes on and he fled. She flagged down a pizza delivery car and police were called.
The incident with the other victim occurred earlier that night when a woman carried two bags of food from a restaurant to her car at Sixth Avenue. She said a man carrying a knife approached her very fast.
“Don’t say anything,” he repeated twice to her.
She tossed the food packages at him and ran back to the restaurant. Her boyfriend came and got her. It started raining at midnight, and they decided to report the crime the next day after they saw a TV newscast about the rape of the other woman.
Deputy District Attorney Judy Tashner said if Hernandez is convicted of all charges, he faces a life sentence in prison.
Hernandez was arrested May 7 in the 700 block of Broadway in Chula Vista. He has pleaded not guilty.
