He ‘was like an uncle.’ Macon man’s rape trial stemming from 2017 charges begins

A Macon man is on trial this week in Bibb County Superior Court on rape charges first filed in 2017.

Torrence Fatai Thornton, 49, is accused of raping and repeatedly molesting a girl who was 14 and 15 years old between March 2016 and February 2017, as well as raping both the girl and a 21-year-old woman while toting a handgun in October 2016.

Thornton allegedly raped the teenage girl as often as multiple times a week. He is also accused of giving the girl HIV, for which he tested positive and knew he had at the time, witnesses said during the trial that began Tuesday.

Prosecutors said Thornton “was like an uncle” to the girl.

“(Thornton) made the fateful statement to (the girl), one that he would repeat often during the course of the next year. ‘If you do for me, I’ll do for you,’” lead prosecuting attorney Dawn Baskin said during her opening statement. “Evidence will show that she was 14 at the time in 2016, and she did not know what the scope of that meant.”

Thornton has denied the allegations since his initial hearings when he was indicted in 2017. The case was briefly dropped and then re-opened in 2019, court records show.

Thornton and his attorneys claimed in the trial that the girl, who lived on the same property as him but in a separate house at the time, falsified the assault claims to try and escape the custody of her legal guardian at the time, who they say was very strict.

Defense attorneys also argued that Thornton has a condition that prevents him from having sex.

A key wrinkle in the case surfaced after prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed under an order from Judge Jeffery Monroe before the trial began to bar witnesses from discussing whether the 14-year-old victim had tested positive for HIV.

The trial took an early turn during opening statements Tuesday afternoon when a defense attorney claimed there was “no physical evidence” against Thornton proving the sex assaults.

Prosecuting attorney Baskin pounced, objecting to the statement, and lobbying for Judge Monroe to let witnesses speak about the victim’s HIV test. She claimed that the girl’s status as HIV positive counted as physical evidence.

“(The defense attorney) specifically said ‘no physical evidence of an assault.’ That, your honor, opens the door. This young lady is HIV positive. That is evidence of an assault,” Baskin said. “She was 15… somebody had to give it to her. I have an expert who’s treated her who is prepared to say that she has HIV.”

Monroe agreed with Baskin’s objection.

“You danced too close to a bear trap, and stuck your foot in it, and now it’s closed,” Monroe sternly told one defense attorney as he vacated the old ruling.

Baskin clenched her fist in apparent celebration of the judge’s decision, and the trial began.

Witnesses testify the victim has HIV

The first testimony came from nurses and doctors who, after the ruling from Judge Monroe, were able to tell jurors that the younger victim was HIV positive.

Thornton’s attorneys tried to challenge medical professionals’ claims by implying the victim could have been HIV positive before the assault and contracted it from somewhere else. Prosecuting attorneys disputed this by referencing the victim’s three other sexual partners before she tested HIV positive, saying that all three men had tested negative for HIV.

Next came testimony from family members and the victims. One witness, a woman who became the victim’s legal guardian after the alleged child molestation, recounted how the victim “shed many tears” when she was told she had HIV.

The victim and witnesses claimed on the stand that Thornton told her he had cancer, a lie to apparently cover up that he was HIV positive.

In addition to the charges he’s on trial for, Thornton is also being held in the Bibb County Jail for gang-related charges, battery of a police officer and violating his parole, jail records show.

The trial was expected to continue Friday.

This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 5:59 PM.