Haitian Arrested for Sexual Battery on Mentally Handicapped Woman

A Haitian man was arrested Saturday afternoon by detectives at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in connection with a sexual battery of a mentally handicapped woman, Boynton Beach police have reported.

He has been identified as Pascal Estime, 55. Estime is accused of sexually battering the woman, who is now 33 years old, on two occasions at a house, impregnating her. Police said the pregnancy was terminated and DNA from the fetus was retained for evidentiary purposes.

The case against Estime went cold for 12 years, during which time his whereabouts were unknown.

Boynton Beach police adopted the case in July 2016 and tracked Estime to Orlando, and a search warrant was obtained for the man's DNA. But Estime went to Haiti before the warrant could be served.

The warrant for Estime's DNA was executed with assistance from the Orange County Sheriff's Office on June 13 at his home in Orlando. Detectives drove to his home to collect the DNA swab and submit it for processing.

The detectives were notified last Thursday that the probability of paternity for Estime in reference to the compared fetal material was 99.9997 percent. A warrant was obtained for Estime's arrest for two counts of sexually battery on a mentally defective person.

The detectives also received information Estime had booked a JetBlue flight Fort Lauderdale to Haiti.

With assistance from the Broward Sheriff's Office and U.S. marshals, Estime was taken into custody while pretending to sleep at Gate F4 in the JetBlue terminal. He was taken to the Boynton Beach Police Department, where he gave a full confession.

He appeared in the Palm Beach County Court where he was refused bond and is scheduled to reappear in court on Friday, July 14.

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