$1M bail for girl's alleged attacker

LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WIVB) - A man accused of a vicious attack against a 7-year-old girl has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder.

Twenty-eight-year-old David Alfonso is being held on a million dollars bail after the terrifying incident that took place in Lockport on New Year’s Eve afternoon. A woman called 911 just after 2 p.m. to report a man was attacking her child. Police say the woman said, "79 Monroe, he is killing my baby" before the line was disconnected.

The girl's maternal grandmother, Maxine Townsend, tells News 4 she took 7-year-old Censorae out of the house the girl's mother shared with Alfonso two weeks ago. Townsend brought her granddaughter to live with her in her home, a few blocks away on Church Street.

"Because this Alfonso was in my daughter's life," Townsend said. "I never trusted him."

Neither, says Townsend, did Censorae. Together, they came up with a family emergency plan.

"If anything... if he comes back, because he wasn't there for a while; [if] you're afraid. You run... and then come to my house," Townsend told Censorae.

On New Year's Eve, Townsend took Censorae back to her mother's house so the little girl could get more clothes. Townsend said within ten minutes, she got a hysterical call from her daughter, Cassandra Castro.

"Cassie said, 'He's trying to kill my daughter, and I'm going to kill him.'"

Lockport Police responded to Lock and Monroe Streets and say they found David Alfonso covered in blood at the intersection. Alfonso allegedly smeared blood on a police car and refused to stop. Police say they were forced to taser him. Alfonso was then taken to Lockport Hospital for treatment.

Police searched for the girl, but could not find her inside the home on Monroe Street. It turned out, after Alfonso had allegedly choked the 7-year-old unconscious, the girl had awoken and run to her grandmother's home a few blocks away on Church Street.

Townsend said, "Then she was coming down the road, no shoes, no coat. But we did have a plan and that little smart girl remembered that."

Townsend teared up, as she recalled what Censorae told her had happened.

"He dragged her by the head of the hair into her bedroom. Put her in front of her mirror and said, 'Do you want to see how it looks when I kill you?'" Townsend said.

"She says, 'Grandma, I fell asleep and I woke up on the bed and he was punching me in my mouth.' She didn't fall asleep; he was choking her. And he was inside down into her larynx. He punched a tooth out, she had blood all over her."

According to the police report, Alfonso "tried to rip [the girl's] jaw off." Censorae is still recovering at Women and Children's Hospital. Townsend says it has taken a couple of days for her mouth to heal, and she is now regaining the ability to speak.

Alfonso was treated for stab wounds at the hospital, which he received as police say the girl's mother tried to defend her daughter.

Alfonso is charged with second degree attempted murder, second degree strangulation and second degree assault. He was arraigned in Lockport City Court Wednesday and is being held on $1 million bail.

Neighbors on Monroe Street were stunned by the attack.

"Sick. We don't need this in the neighborhood," said Gertrude Scarborough, who has a half-dozen grandchildren and great-grandchildren Censorae's age, and younger. "Anything that happens to a child, that's not right."

"This happening to this little girl is just absolutely outrageous," added Brian Sullivan, who has a two-year-old son. "We're always looking out for one another's kids in this neighborhood."

Police say they do not know the motive behind the attack, but Townsend has her own theory.

"He was on some kind of drugs. I found out what he was on, that bath salts," Townsend said.

And Townsend isn't the only one who thinks so. Sullivan agrees.

"I'm quite certain that he had to be under the influence of some mind-altering drug in order to do something like that a 7-year-old girl," he said.