Woman testifies she, mother were raped

The trial for a Lilburn man accused of taking part in a series of astonishingly brutal home invasions in 2004 got off to an emotional start Wednesday.

Gwinnett County prosecutor Stephen Fern told jurors that Mario Silverio, 22, was one of a nine-man crew that subjected victims to “a night of terror in their own home.”

A Lawrenceville woman who was sexually assaulted in front of her infant daughter testified that she was awakened the morning of Feb. 25, 2004, by masked gunmen kicking in her bedroom door.

She said the men circled her bed, demanding money. The victim, not identified because she was the victim of sexual assault, said the intruders spent several hours ransacking the home.

After one man raped her, another suspect grabbed her 6-month-old daughter by the hand and leg and tossed her into a crib.

“They asked if it was a boy or girl,” the woman said, speaking Spanish and assisted by an interpreter. “I told them it was a boy to protect my little girl.”

The victim literally choked on tears at one point during her testimony. She said she later learned that her mother had been raped upstairs in front of the woman’s 6-year-old sister.

The robbery crew broke into nine homes between Feb. 25 and April 30, 2004, Fern said. They battered, shot and tortured the men, sexually assaulted women and even pistol-whipped a child.

“These incidents constituted a crime wave in Gwinnett County, let there be no doubt,” Fern said.

Defense attorney Norman Cuadra said in his opening statements that Silverio was not involved in the robberies. He said Silverio renounced ties to the Pachucos Locos 14 gang in 2003, following the birth of his son. Silverio came under suspicion because he purchased stolen items from one of the suspects, Cuadra said.

“If anything, he is guilty of theft by receiving,” Cuadra said.

Five other members of the home invasion crew have either pleaded guilty or been convicted. Three are expected to testify for the state.