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Stora followed the couple while shouting threats and slurs, including “Die, Jews, die!” court filings said.
By Shula Rosen
A New York state judge on Wednesday convicted a Brooklyn man of multiple hate crimes stemming from a series of assaults and harassment incidents in Manhattan and Brooklyn between 2023 and 2024, including an attack on a Jewish couple who documented him tearing down posters of Israeli hostages held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
The defendant, Skiboky Stora, 42, was found guilty of assault, stalking and harassment following a weeks-long bench trial in Manhattan court.
Prosecutors said the incidents reflected a pattern of anti-female, anti-white and antisemitic conduct targeting strangers in public spaces.
According to prosecutors, one of the central incidents involved a husband and wife who photographed Stora as he removed hostage posters.
Stora then followed the couple while shouting threats and slurs, including “Die, Jews, die!” court filings said.
Stora represented himself at trial. In his closing remarks, he denied wrongdoing, saying, “I never did anything racist to anybody, and I never did anything discriminating against anybody, and I never tried to injure anybody,” according to the New York Post.
Prosecutors presented video evidence showing Stora harassing the Jewish couple, as well as footage he recorded of himself shouting at and confronting white individuals, the Post reported.
“The victims were met with both violence and harassment simply because of who they are,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement after the verdict. “Hate crimes strike at the core of our city’s values and sense of safety.”
The court also heard evidence related to several other assaults. In one widely publicized case on March 25, 2024, Stora punched a then-23-year-old woman walking on a Manhattan street, knocking her to the ground. Prosecutors said the blow caused pain and swelling on the left side of her head. The case drew significant attention after the victim described the attack on TikTok, prompting others to report similar encounters.
In an earlier incident, prosecutors said Stora elbowed a 17-year-old student in the neck while making a hostile remark. In another case, he elbowed a 37-year-old woman in the shoulder, leaving bruises.
Stora was remanded into custody following the conviction. His sentencing is scheduled for April 14.
Messages left on his Instagram account were not immediately returned. On the account, Stora claims to be the “great-great-grandson” of Marcus Garvey, founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, and says he is running for governor as a Republican.
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