Story thread · 2 reports / 1 sources

Defendant says he didn’t kidnap, rape DoorDash driver in Tampa

tampabay.com · 2hShare

In a Tampa courtroom Thursday, Joseph Thomas Killins raised a hand and swore to tell the truth. On the witness stand, the 41-year-old repeatedly denied that he kidnapped a young DoorDash driver late one night three years ago or that he raped her and shot one of her friends who came to the rescue. “I didn’t shoot nobody,” he said. “I didn’t rob nobody. I didn’t force nobody in no car.” For more than an hour, Killins talked and talked, portraying himself as a victim of circumstance. He shifted frequently in his seat. He sat wide-eyed, glancing frequently at his lawyer and spectators. The truth, Killins said, is that he’d been having a sexual relationship with the victim for two months. She got upset that night, April 18, 2023, after he told her he wanted to end things. He said she committed a consensual sexual act on him. Her friends arrived and accosted him. The victim, he said, pulled a gun and tried to shoot him. “Anybody in their right mind ain’t gonna hold somebody at gunpoint and f

First report: ‘He will kill us all’: Tampa DoorDash driver recounts kidnapping, rape in court — tampabay.com, 1d