A 42-year-old Birmingham woman sat on the witness stand in a Jefferson County courtroom Monday, facing the man who raped her more than four years ago.

Not only did Johnathan Fitzgerald Lockett, who goes by the name Master Lockett, rape her – both vaginally and anally – on Oct. 28, 2019, he stole her purple and black handgun that would be used later to sexually torture another one of his many victims.

In a soft and quiet voice, the woman told Lockett she forgave him.

“I forgive you because leaving hate in my heart is going to do nothing for me,’’ said the woman, who in 2019 worked as a dancer at a gentleman’s club but turned to the sex trade because she was having trouble making ends meet.

But, she told him, “Your heart and your mind is going to feel me. You’re going to see me in your dreams.”

Birmingham police in November 2020 first announced the arrest of Lockett. More women came forward and Lockett was eventually indicted on roughly 30 charges involving 12 sexual assault victims.

He has only gone to trial in five of the of those 12 cases, and was convicted several months ago on five counts of sodomy, four counts of robbery, and one count each of rape, sexual torture and theft. All five of those victims testified against him.

Jefferson County prosecutors Isabella Colombo and Julie McMakin said Lockett, a massage therapist operating under the business name Mr. Phalanges, preyed on women who were down on their luck and turned to prostitution to make ends meet.

He connected with the women through online escort websites and then violently sodomized them against their will, often recording the attacks on his cell phone.

Lockett maintains that the encounters were consensual, and he did no wrong. On Monday, before sentencing, he said he forgives the victims for saying things that were true.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Shanta Craig Owens on Monday sentenced Lockett to 776 years in prison – to be served consecutively, saying that the forgiveness he offered the victims was a slap in the face to them and that he needed to atone for his “sickness and sin.”

Owens’ sentencing came after the 42-year-old woman delivered her victim impact statement, and Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office Investigator Ben Short read statements for two other women who testified during the trial but did not want to face Lockett again on Monday.

“I am so happy that each victim came forward because I think it could have been very easy for them to say, ‘I was engaged in sex work and so I don’t want to move forward,’’ Owens said.

To the victim in the courtroom Monday, the judge said, “I am so proud of you for taking the stand during the trial. I am so proud of you for coming back today for sentencing and looking him in the eye and standing on ‘The decisions I made were not go that day but what he did was wrong.’”

“I hope this catapults any other woman out there who doesn’t think they’re being believed or worthy of showing up, that we’re here, that we believe in accountability,” said Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr.

Another victim began communicating with Lockett in December 2019, connecting with him on the Skip the Games Escort App. She was struggling with addiction and desperate for cash.

They agreed to meet on Dec. 6 in the 7800 block of First Avenue South.

She performed oral sex on him, and they engaged in consensual vaginal and anal sex. The had previously agreed on $100 for 15 minutes, so when Lockett began to go over 15 minutes time, she told him he would have to pay more.

As she got ready to leave, he told the victim, “You’re not going anywhere (expletive.)”

He put a gun to her face, raping her vaginally and anally at gunpoint.

Lockett then beat her, and pistol whipped her, leaving her with permanent eye damage.

She said Monday her life was irreparably altered by the heinous acts of Lockett.

“The scars of his violent rape and brutal attack haunt me every day of my life, both physically and mentally,’’ she said in her statement.

“I endured immense suffering, losing the gift of sigh in my left eye and forever changing my appearance,’’ she said. “Yet, I refuse to be defined by these horrors.”

“Countless others suffer as I do,’’ she said, “haunted by relentless nightmares and psychological torment.”

She asked the judge to hold Lockett accountable.

“Your decision holds profound weight,’’ she said. “Use it wisely and you will help darkness to be replaced by the light of justice.”

Lockett’s final known victim was attacked on Nov. 2, 2020. She was a certified nail technician but with COVID lockdowns in full effect, her business had taken a hit.

A friend told her about Skip the Games and she, too, posted an ad.

Lockett responded and they agreed to vaginal sex. He picked her up and she got into the back seat, where the suspect drove her to an apartment building.

Instead of going inside, Lockett told her they’re going to have their “date” on the steps.

The suspect then raped her anally. The woman – humiliated, embarrassed, and violated- begged him to take her home.

But Lockett needed his car washed and took her with him.

She begged to go home, and Lockett dragged her out of the car and choked her. Three people witnessed the assault and came to her aid after Lockett left.

The victim was able to get Lockett’s license plate, which ultimately led to Lockett’s arrest and the end of his sex crime spree.

At the time, the victim went by the name Karma.

“It’s kind of ironic,’’ she said in her statement.

“I am not proud of the kind of work I had to do to survive,’’ she said. “But I do believe all things happen for a reason.”

After Lockett’s attack on her, she was diagnosed with PTSD and Major Depressive Disorder, and began to self-medicate.

“I turned to drugs – an old comfort of mine, and old friend if you will,’’ she said. “Needless to say, that friend always turns on you and stabs you in the back.”

She said she often thought of suicide.

The woman is now in prison for a parole violation on a drug conviction.

“I’m not bitter that I am back in custody. I am glad actually,’’ she said. “I got the mental health treatment I needed, as well as the classes I needed for self-help and counseling.”

“If I wouldn’t have came back to prison, I probably would ended up committing suicide by now and Mr. Lockett may have walked away a free man,’’ she said. “I can’t say for sure.”

“I am proud to say that I am drug free and have been at the same job for almost a year,’’ she said. “I am thriving, and I am healing from this incident.”

“I believe in God, His word, and his principles,’’ she said. “In the Bible, His word says, ‘God will not be mocked. As a man sews, he shall also reap.”

“I am glad I called the police and gave them the information they needed that helped apprehend him,’’ he said. “I am so glad that I could help do one thing for humanity and help put Mr. Lockett away for his crimes.”