Woman choked, nearly raped in Ybor parking lot confronts attacker at court sentencing

TAMPA - Typically, ABC Action News doesn’t reveal the names of faces of sexual assault victims, but Heidi Damon asked to be seen. The way Damon sees it, if anyone should be embarrassed, it’s the teen that attacked her and attempted to rape her two years ago in an Ybor City parking garage.

“I’m not the victim, I’m the victor,” Damon said, face-to-face to her attacker at his sentencing in court Wednesday.

Jovon Cooper was 16-years-old when he attacked Damon, choking her until she blacked out.

When Damon later woke, she was naked from the waist down. She thankfully was not raped, but the trauma of the attack gave her chronic headaches, kept her out of work for a year and stole any sense of security.

But on Wednesday, she decided to speak. And she gave Cooper a piece of her mind.

“What you have done to me is unforgivable, so don’t expect me 20,30,40,50 years or on my deathbed to ever say ‘I forgive you.”

Damon chose to speak on behave of the victims who don’t speak up.

“So many times, victims hide under their covers and no one gets helped by that. And if I don’t talk, how can I help somebody,” she said.

Cooper was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years probation as a part of a plea deal. The judge says if it was up to him, Cooper would be imprisoned for life.