NYC man charged with antisemitic, anti-white, and anti-woman hate crimes
In November, fringe political candidate Skiboky Stora allegedly told a couple in lower Manhattan to ‘die, Jews, die’ when they saw him tearing down posters of Israeli hostages
A man who was arrested in March on charges of randomly hitting a woman walking down a street in New York City has been indicted on hate crime charges for that assault and several others, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Skiboky Stora, 40, of Brooklyn, is charged with assaulting, stalking and harassing strangers in a series of anti-female, anti-white, and antisemitic incidents between September of 2023 and March of this year, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
Bragg said in a statement that Stora “allegedly committed a series of hate-motivated incidents against several individuals based on their perceived gender, race and religion.”
Stora, an African-American who claims descent from the Jamaican black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey, has made several fringe bids for public office in New York, including unsuccessful runs for governor, mayor, and City Council, according to New York-based Jewish newspaper Hamodia.
He has been charged in connection with a March 25, 2024, assault on a 23-year-old woman in the Chelsea neighborhood, which attracted wide attention after the alleged victim posted about it on TikTok and several other people described similar attacks in social media posts.
The victim in that case fell to the ground and suffered pain and swelling on the left side of her head, Bragg said.
It came amid a global surge in antisemitic incidents following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. Such incidents have almost doubled nationwide, according to statistics from the Anti-Defamation League, and the State of New York has moved in recent months to expand its hate crime legislation in response.
The attack in Chelsea came months after two other assaults in the same neighborhood, prosecutors said.
On September 20, 2023, Stora elbowed a 17-year-old student in the neck and said, “You people think you can do whatever you want,” using a curse word, according to the indictment.
Then, on October 26, he elbowed a 37-year-old woman’s left shoulder, causing pain and bruising, prosecutors said.
And on November 18, a husband and wife, both 28, were walking their dogs near Union Square when they saw Stora tearing down posters of Israeli hostages and stopped to take a photo, prosecutors said.
Noticing the couple looking at him, Stora followed them shouting anti-white and antisemitic threats and insults including, “Die, Jews, die!” according to the indictment.
Stora denied that he was motivated by antisemitism, telling CBS New York: “Oh no, I love Jewish people.” He said that he ripped off the hostage posters “because it was scaring the little kids in the community.”
@halleykate
Released after hearing
Stora, who was arrested two days after the attack in Chelsea, was arraigned Tuesday on charges including assault as a hate crime and stalking as a hate crime. He had been charged previously with assault in connection with several cases and pleaded not guilty.
Stora posted bail and was released on Tuesday, after the judge denied Bragg’s request to increase his bail to $25,000, according to Fox 5 New York.
Speaking outside the courtroom wearing a necktie with his name on it, Stora said that the alleged victim of the Chelsea assault had in face been harassing him, and denied that the other incidents had taken place, Fox reported.
Stora alleged political persecution, telling reporters, “They’re [trying to] indict me man… this guy Alvin Bragg he’s corrupted. We just [trying to] run for office.
“May it be documented to the blacks that I went down fighting for America,” he told Fox.
Stora said authorities had “no probable cause” to arrest him, the TV station reported. He is representing himself in court and has no attorney, the district attorney’s office said. His next court date is August 6.
