NEWARK FIENDS FIRST FAILED AT SEX ATTACK: REPORT

By AUSTIN FENNER

August 23, 2007 -- The thugs who shot four college students in Newark reportedly preceded their sick attack by trying to sexually assault their two female victims.

The group of six assailants - who shot two men and a woman dead and wounded another woman - failed in their attempt at a sexual attack, and then decided to kill their victims, according to 1010 WINS radio.

Six suspects have now been charged in the Aug. 4 atrocity, in which the victims were blasted execution-style.

Yesterday, a family member of one of the slain victims, Iofemi Hightower, described the level of savagery of the attack. He said the thugs used a machete to hack their victims.

"They cut my niece's face off," said John McClain, who is Hightower's great-uncle, and the chaplain of the Newark Police Department. "They cut her from cheek to cheek. They left her head hanging."

McClain said the mortician told him he had to work for three days to put his grand-niece's face back together.

"Most people couldn't tell, when he was done, but the family could tell," he said.

One of the accused killers, 17-year-old Alexander Alfaro, is scheduled to appear in court today in Virginia, where he is expected to waive extradition to New Jersey.

Five other suspects - 28-year-old Jose Carranza, an illegal immigrant from Peru; Rodolfo Godinez, 24, Alfaro's half-brother; Melvin Jovel, 18, of Elizabeth, N.J.; and two unnamed 15-year-old boys - are in custody.

Yesterday, authorities would neither confirm nor deny the radio report that Alfaro and his cohorts allegedly tried to sexually assault Hightower and Natasha Aeriel, 19, who survived the attack.

austin.fenner@nypost.com

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