Sex Assault Charge for New Canaan Man, 50, Accused of Groping

A 50-year-old local man was arrested Saturday on a charge he groped a 52-year-old woman while in her car -- and she immediately drove to New Canaan police headquarters while he was still in the car.

New Canaan police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court) of the incident:

Skender Halili, 50, of 61 Millport Ave. had offered to take a look under the hood of the woman's car to try to repair it. She agreed, and on April 9, he started fixing it.

Halili, an immigrant from Albania, continued fixing it the next day, a Thursday, and then she drove the car with him in the passenger seat, to see if it drove well and sounded right.

As she drove, Halil began asking personal questions that made her uncomfortable. Then he put his hand on her thigh and started rubbing her between her legs.

She told him to stop, told him she didn't like what he was doing and again told him to stop. She also told him he was going to get into trouble and elbowed him away from her as she drove.

She was driving around town and had gotten onto the Merritt Parkway. She then got off the parkway and drive to New Canaan police headquarters, driving in through the exit.

Visibly distraught, she told police she had just been groped, and the perpetrator was sitting in her parked car in front of the police station.

An officer went out to talk to Halili, but the man had left the vehicle and was nowhere to be seen. A police surveillance video of the lot indicated that someone got out of the car after the woman had gone inside the police station, but the car had been parked in a bit of a blind spot, so it was hard to get a close look at the passenger.

The woman didn't remember Halil's name, but she had it written down at home, and she later gave it to police. Police contacted Halil and spoke to him at the police station.

He denied groping her, and admitted helping her the first day. He initially denied ever being in the car during the test drive, but on further police questioning, he admitted he was in the car and admitted he had lied about that because he was scared.

He denied groping her. He told police that he had no idea why she would falsely accuse him of that.

Police applied for an arrest warrant, a judge approved it, and police informed Halili of it. On Saturday Halili turned himself in to police and was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault.

He was later released on a $1,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear May 12 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.