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Four ordered held without bail over Chicago torture shown on Facebook

[January 07, 2017] By Timothy Mclaughlin

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Four African-Americans accused of attacking an 18-year-old white man with special needs while making anti-white racial taunts in an assault broadcast on Facebook were ordered held without bail by a Chicago judge on Friday.

Jordan Hill, Tesfaye Cooper and sisters Brittany and Tanishia Covington were each charged with aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, aggravated unlawful restraint, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon on Thursday. Tanishia Covington was aged 24, while her sister and the two men were 18.

Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil ordered all four held without bail on Friday at a Chicago bond court, according to the Circuit Court of Cook County Clerk's Office.

"I'm looking at each of you and wondering where was the sense of decency that each of you should have had?" Judge Ciesil said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "I don't see it."

The four are accused of kidnapping and torturing the man, who had planned to spend the New Year's holiday with Hill, whom he knew from school. A portion of the ordeal was broadcast on the Facebook Live service, drawing widespread shock and condemnation.

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A combination photo shows four people charged with felonies for the beating of a man with mental health issues, L-R: Brittany Covington, 18, Jordan Hill, 18, Tanishia Covington, 24, and Tesfaye Cooper, 18, shown in Chicago Police Department photos released in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. January 5, 2017. Courtesy Chicago Police Department/Handout via REUTERS

By Jan. 2, the victim's mother had grown concerned after not hearing from her son. She was able to contact Hill through social media and asked for her son to be returned. This angered Hill, assistant state's attorney Erin Antonietti told members of the media outside the court on Friday.

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