NEW ORLEANS — A man convicted of crimes the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office is calling heinous was sentenced to life in prison. Navarii Henderson was convicted of first-degree rape, aggravated kidnapping, second-degree robbery, and domestic abuse battery against a pregnant woman, back in August.
Monday, he stood before a judge as she handed down her sentence. Details in this web article may be triggering for some.
In 2016 a woman was jogging along the levee in Algiers. She said in court Monday that she usually ran with her husband, but that one near-fatal day she went alone.
In 2016 the victim told WWL Louisiana, "I couldn't crawl so I started dragging myself on my back through the dirt with one hand."
Authorities say Navarii Henderson grabbed the woman and then dragged her to the water. Police say he broke her nose and fractured her wrist, dislocated her hip, beat her into permanent vision loss, and raped her.
Orleans Parish District Attorney, Jason Williams said, "The victim's bravery was remarkable, she fought back and wounded this defendant, which likely saved her life... and after the attacker left her in that mangled condition."
In August 2018 Henderson struck again, DA Williams said, "The defendant targeted another woman as she was exiting an Uber after walking a friend home, he approached her from behind, he threatened her, he led her behind an 18-wheeler near a dumpster, where he choked her until she lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness, the defendant was raping her... She was six months pregnant."
Williams says DNA from both attacks was collected but the cases went cold till late 2019, that's when he says Henderson's abuse followed him home. The DA says the DNA collected from the other two crimes linked Henderson to all three attacks.
"He punched his then-girlfriend in the face with a closed fist knocking her unconscious... with fractures in her jaw and cheekbone... tragically she lost her pregnancy following that assault."
Henderson was given two life sentences without the possibility of parole, he also got three years for robbery and one year for domestic violence.
During sentencing one of Navarii Henderson's victims spoke during victim impact statements, she detailed the attack she endured years ago. She talked about how she felt she was going to lose her life in that moment and said her first thoughts were that of her family and leaving her husband behind if she were to die.
In 2020 WWL Louisiana former anchor Karen Swensen sat down with Henderson's mother and aunt, Henderson's mother said at the time, “God can only help you out of this situation and if it's something that you did do, you need to pray to ask God to forgive you.”
His Aunt described him as a scared and withdrawn child, who tended to wet the bed, saying then, "One thing in particular he shared with me, that they did to him, about taking underwear and pushing it in his mouth.”
A point brought up in court Monday, to which the DA said, "The facts surrounding this utter terror that he unleashed on a neighborhood... what may or may not have happened maybe something he can deal with for the rest of his life in jail, but it does not absolve him for the harm and terror he has caused."
One of the three victims who stood bravely in court, with her voice trembling shared her true purpose: to protect other women from the nightmare she endured. She said she felt some relief knowing her attacker would spend his life in prison.
Henderson's father, Stephret Harvey is serving a 40-year sentence for rapes in the early 2000s.