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Witnesses testify in alleged Spartan Village assault case

June 12, 2015

Three witnesses testified at a preliminary exam for the second time in 14 days in the case of the alleged attack on 19-year-old MSU student Ryah Kelly from five Detroit women during the early hours of March 6, 2015.

Defendants Chinonye Nwangwu, Tierra Hubbard and Madison Reed sat in court Thursday and listened to Kelly's, along with MSU Police Officers, Aaron White and Detective James Terrill's testimonies.

The other two defendants involved in the case -- Paris Strickland and Brittani Barber-Gribble -- previously had their preliminary exams on Thursday, May 28, and their cases were sent to the circuit court, where they will eventually stand trial.

The way Reed recounts the events of the night of her assault, it was around 3 a.m. when she received a phone call from a person identifying herself as Madison. The person on the other end of the phone told Kelly she was with a mutual friend of their's that needed help because she was drunk, so she asked Kelly to send her location, which Kelly then did.

When they arrived at Kelly's residence at 1623 Spartan Village, Kelly walked outside . However, when she met the individuals in parking lot, Kelly said a girl she had previously had altercations with -- Nwangwu -- emerged from the vehicle and struck her.

"I said hold on, we don't got to do this right now. My baby is inside," testified Kelly, referring to her then 5-month-old daughter.

But it was too late, as Kelly said a group five women converged on her and hit, kicked, beat over the head with a baseball bat and maced her. The women also allegedly stole Kelly's cell phone and vandalized her car by smashing out the windows and breaking the gas cap off.

Kelly was eventually able to escape her attackers and return to her apartment and contacted someone to drive her to the hospital, where White confirmed he saw her with injuries to her face, head and abrasions on her knees.

The following day, Kelly was able confirm all five of her attackers through perusing social media and seeing an Instagram post showing her alleged attackers being together the night of her attack. 

Detective Terrill was also able to trace the phone number Kelly had been receiving phone calls from the night of her attack back to an owner identified as Madison Reed. In addition to this, The GPS tracking system in Kelly's iPhone showed the last place it had been was across the street from Reed's home in Detroit.

After the women were arrested in early May, in interviews with Detective Terrill, Hubbard confirmed she had been at the scene of the crime and admitted to Terrill that she hit Kelly with the bat out of anger, and told him that he "could write that down."

As for Reed's interview with Terrill, while she originally denied being in East Lansing that night, she eventually changed her story. Reed told Terrill it was to her understanding they were going to Kelly's apartment to vandalize her vehicle to get back at an alleged vandalism Kelly had inflicted upon Nwangwu's vehicle, but not to assault her.

The women will stand trial and face potential charges on seven counts that include armed robbery, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, destruction of personal property, assault with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit assault with intent to do great bodily harm, conspiracy to commit destruction of personal property and conspiracy to commit felonious assault. 

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