A man accused of assaulting or harassing at least five people in New York City over the past year, including a woman who documented her injury on TikTok, has been indicted on hate crime charges for the “anti-female, anti-white, and antisemitic” attacks, prosecutors say.
Skiboky Stora, 40, is charged with three counts of third-degree assault as a hate crime, one count of third-degree stalking as a hate crime and aggravated harassment in the second degree for the incidents that stretched from September 2023 to March 2024, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
Stora, of Brooklyn, had previously been arrested in March on an assault charge, accused of hitting a woman in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The woman documented the bizarre injury on TikTok.
In that case, the 23-year-old white woman was walking in Chelsea on March 25 when she passed Stora and he “struck her in the head, causing her to fall to the ground,” authorities said. She suffered pain and swelling on the left side of her head, the DA’s office said.
“You guys, I was literally just walking and a man came up and punched me in the face,” she said tearfully in her video. “Oh, my God, it hurts so bad. I can’t even talk.”
She was one of several women who posted on the platform describing being punched or attacked as they were walking down the street in Manhattan.
“Skiboky Stora allegedly committed a series of hate-motivated incidents against several individuals based on their perceived gender, race and religion,” District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg said. “Nobody should have to fear for their safety because of their identity.”
The series of attacks allegedly started on Sept. 20 of last year when Stora passed a 17-year-old white student in Chelsea and allegedly elbowed him in the neck and said, “You people think you can do whatever the f— you want,” the district attorney’s office said in a release.
Then, on the morning of Oct. 26, a 37-year-old woman described as “fair-skinned” walked past Stora in Chelsea and as she passed, he elbowed her left shoulder, causing pain and bruising, officials said.
A month later on Nov. 18, a white Jewish couple were walking their dogs in Union Square when the 28-year-old woman in the couple saw Stora tearing down posters about kidnapped Israeli hostages and took a photo of him.
Stora noticed the couple looking at him, began to follow them and allegedly shouted “anti-white and antisemitic remarks,” including “F—- you white boy.”
A woman invited the couple into her apartment so that they could get away from Stora, who allegedly followed them into the building lobby yelling, “Die, Jews, Die!” prosecutors said.
His series of attacks apparently culminated with the attack on the woman who posted on TikTok. Stora was arrested two days later in connection with that last incident, and had pleaded not guilty in that case.
He was arraigned Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to the hate crime charges. Stora is representing himself in court, according to court records. His next hearing is slated for Aug. 6.
Stora has sought public office in New York since 2021 and participated in a New York City mayoral debate in 2021, NBC News previously reported citing public records. In 2022, he filed a handwritten petition to get on the ballot for New York governor. Last year, records show, Stora ran for the District 9 seat on the New York City Council.
