Nearly two years after a random street attack left influencer Halley Kate reeling on a Manhattan sidewalk, the man accused of punching her has been found guilty on every charge.
According to New York Supreme Criminal Court records, defendant Skiboky Stora was convicted on Feb. 25 of multiple charges, including assault and aggravated harassment. Stora had pleaded not guilty. His sentencing is scheduled for April 14.
The verdict marks the end of a long legal process that began on March 25, 2024, when Kate, now 25, recorded a tearful video moments after the attack and shared it with her followers.
“I was literally just walking, and a man came up and punched me in the face. Oh my god, it hurts so bad. I can’t even talk,” she said in the clip, showing a swelling bump forming on the side of her head. “I fell to the ground, and now this giant goose egg is forming.”
At the time, the NYPD confirmed that a man had been arrested and that Kate “suffered injuries to the left side of her face,” according to a police statement.
The case quickly gained attention online, fueled by Kate’s social media presence and her candid documentation of the aftermath. But the path to conviction stretched nearly two years.
Earlier this month, on Feb. 3, Kate appeared in court to testify against Stora. She marked the occasion with an Instagram post showing her outside the Manhattan courthouse, captioning it: “Halley Kate Court…. 2 years in the making. Today we serve justice & serve looks 🤝.”
Behind the confident caption, however, she later admitted to feeling deep anxiety about facing her alleged attacker.
“In all honesty, I really didn’t want to testify because I was very anxious to go literally speak to a man who assaulted me on the streets,” she wrote on Instagram Stories the following day. “This man is also still free and who’s to say what he’s capable of.”
Despite that fear, she said she felt compelled to move forward with the case.
“That being said, I feel like it would be wrong to allow him to walk freely on the streets,” she concluded.
After the guilty verdict was delivered on Feb. 25, Kate took to TikTok to share the outcome with her 1.6 million followers. In the brief video, she lip-synced while overlay text read: “Just got the phone call that the man who hit me in the head was found guilty and taken to jail.”
In the caption, she added a pointed message: “He’s off the streets thank god ladies.”
The conviction brings a measure of closure to a case that underscored concerns about random street violence in New York City. Prosecutors argued that the attack was unprovoked. The jury ultimately agreed, finding Stora guilty on every count he faced.
While the sentencing in April will determine the length and conditions of his punishment, the verdict itself is already resonating online. For Kate, who initially documented her injuries in real time, the case became not just a personal ordeal but a public one — watched and followed by millions.
Her decision to testify, despite her anxiety, became part of the story she shared with her audience.
Now, with Stora awaiting sentencing, Kate’s message to her followers was simple and direct: accountability has arrived.
