He suddenly realized he was holding at bay more than a suspected burglar

Kingunston Williams and his girlfriend were locked outside of their apartment and eating their McDonald’s dinner in his pickup late one night when he saw something odd.

A man with a flashlight — who kept pulling a stocking cap over his face and then off again — was pacing outside Williams’ apartment building with a flashlight at 11 p.m. on May 16, 2015.

The man was later identified as 31-year-old Darrell Ross of Fort Valley, who is on trial in Peach County for a string of home invasions and sexual assaults in April 2015. Authorities also linked an earlier sexual assault in January of that year to Ross.

But Ross has denied all the allegations against him, and his attorney, Alan Wheeler of Macon, says jurors will have more than enough reasonable doubt to find Ross not guilty by the trial’s end.

On Wednesday, Williams recalled for jurors that hot summer night when he encountered Ross and held him at bay until police arrived.

He remembered how Ross had on a long-sleeve jacket that was zipped up.

Williams said Ross told him several stories as to why he was lurking about Williams’ apartment that late at night, including that he was fixing his brother’s car, then that he’d been at local auto shop that Williams knew had been closed for a few hours and next that he was doing pressure washing. Williams noted that Ross didn’t have any pressure washing equipment.

Williams said he first thought Ross was a burglar.

But after hearing Ross’ different stories and getting a good look at him, Williams said he suddenly realized that he was dealing with the man authorities had been trying to catch.

“I threw the phone to my girlfriend and told her, ‘This is the (expletive) rapist!’ ” said Williams. He told her to call 911.

At the same time, Ross tried to make a run for it. But the heavier, bulkier Williams pulled Ross to his side with his arm and told Ross they’d wait in his truck for authorities to sort it out.

Fort Valley police Officer Roy Thompson III was on scene within three minutes of the 911 call.

From the bulging, bulky pants Ross was wearing, Thompson told jurors he saw pink metal. One of the victims, who were all Fort Valley State University students at the time, had been restrained with pink handcuffs as she was raped by her attacker.

Ross’ pockets were emptied on the scene.

Out came the pink handcuffs, a pink stun gun, condoms in gold packages, a BB gun that looked like a real pistol, gloves, several tools that are commonly used in burglaries and Ross’ cellphone, Thompson said.

One of the victims had been threatened with a pink stun gun. Another victim remembered that the condom her attacker had was in a gold wrapper. All had been held at gunpoint.

Additionally, at least two of the victims were photographed naked with their attacker’s cellphone and threatened by him that the photos would be plastered over social media if they told anyone about what he did.

Photos of the victims were found on Ross’ phone, and belongings from victims’ residences were found in Ross’ home, according to other testimony.

But there was something else that came out of Ross’ pockets that Thompson said he recognized from his 17 years in law enforcement: a homemade “self pleasuring” device called an “Fifi.”

“That kind of cued me in on ... this is most likely the suspect; somebody at least very closely associated with that,” Thompson said of the pink handcuffs and the self pleasuring device.

Ross is on trial on four counts of home invasion, three counts of false imprisonment, two counts each of rape and armed robbery, and one count each aggravated sexual battery, attempted rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault, burglary, criminal trespassing, theft by taking and possession of burglary tools.

The prosecution chose not to present at trial the other nine counts included in the 28-count indictment, prosecutor Cindy Adams said. Wheeler declined comment on the modified charges.

Testimony is expected to resume after the Labor Day holiday on Tuesday to accommodate the scheduling needs of a witness, prosecution and defense attorneys said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the incorrect age of Darrell Ross.

This story was originally published August 30, 2017 at 5:17 PM with the headline "He suddenly realized he was holding at bay more than a suspected burglar."