N.H. rape suspect in court

By Patrick Markey

An ex-convict charged with the kidnapping and sexual assault of two Irish students in New Hampshire last summer will appear in court next week as attorneys work toward a possible summer trial date, officials said this week.

Steven Gordon will appear in Rockingham County Court on April 28 for a hearing on the extradition documents used to bring him back from Belgium, where he allegedly fled after the attack, James Reams, Rockingham county attorney said. A court could set a trial date then or early the week after, Reams said. Prosecutors expect the trial to start in the summer.

Gordon is facing kidnapping and felonious sexual assault charges for the alleged abduction and rape of the two students who had come to the United States to work over the summer. Prosecutors and police charge that in the early hours of July 18 Gordon forced the two young women into a car at gunpoint before assaulting them in a deserted spot near a Portsmouth graveyard.

After the attack, Gordon flew to Europe, where he later surrendered to American embassy authorities in Brussels. U.S. marshals and Portsmouth detectives brought him back to the United States earlier this year.

Recently released after serving a five-year sentence for sexual assault, Gordon has a history of manic depression, his relatives told local newspapers. Police said Gordon is also wanted for questioning about a string of robberies and another sexual assault.