New Orleans, LA -- A Louisiana man was convicted last Friday of repeatedly raping the twin daughters of an ex-girlfriend over a seven-year period. He then used abortions as an attempt to cover up his actions.
The man, 41, whose identity is being withheld to protect the victims' identity, faces two mandatory life sentences in prison for the two aggravated rape convictions. State Judge William Burris will sentence him May 7.
The victims, now 28, clasped hands with their mother and cried as the jury of seven men and five women returned the guilty verdicts after three hours of deliberation.
During the three-day trial, the twins testified the man, who they sometimes called "Dad," had sex with them "thousands" of times between 1984 and 1991 starting when the girls were 10 and he was living with them.
One of the girls said she had two abortions after she became pregnant from the man when she was 15 and 17. She said the man paid for one abortion, unbeknownst to the mother. Her mother, who was told that the girl was raped by a date, paid for the second abortion.
"This sexual predator might have been found guilty of raping two sisters repeatedly, but he got off Scott free on the abortion of this own flesh and blood," explained Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life. "No doubt that he wanted to destroy the 'evidence' -- his own son or daughter."
"Two life sentences for two counts of rape doesn't seem adequate for the destruction of four lives," Foster added.
The defendant repeatedly denied any wrongdoing during more than two hours of testimony Friday. "I never did anything inappropriate with either of them," he said. Defense attorney Donald A. Sauviac Jr. told the jury the mother and her daughters made up bogus allegations to get revenge for his leaving the house.
The girls said they did not tell their mother about the rapes while they were ongoing because the man threatened them. The twins went to authorities in 1999.
The sisters said the man often treated them nice, bought them presents and took them places. "I loved him when he was being a father," one victim said. "I hated it when he was being a molester." Her sister said, "It was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
. . . I mean we asked this man if we could call him Dad."
The twins said their mother worked long hours as a saleswoman and often was away from home. The sexual assaults occurred daily, they said.
The defendant admitted he paid for one abortion, but he said it was after the sisters told him one of them had become pregnant during a trip to California. He claims the girls begged him not to tell their mother. He said he knew nothing about a second abortion.
"One can only wonder how the twin's mother feels now, knowing that she, too, contributed to covering up the crime by paying her own daughter's second abortion -- her boyfriend's child," Foster said.
The man said he worked several jobs and was the major breadwinner in the household until he left in 1991 because his girlfriend refused to help pay bills after she received $50,000 from an insurance policy.
St. Tammany Assistant District Attorney Bruce Dearing told jurors that to believe that the charges were revenge to get back at the man for leaving, "you'd have to believe all these people joined in the conspiracy."
"Really what it boils down to is who do you believe," he said. "There was nothing to corroborate anything that came out of his mouth." Independent witnesses backed the victims' testimony, he said.
A neighbor said she saw the man kissing one girl's neck and fondling her thigh. A former friend and classmate of the twins said they confided to her in 1992 that the man had molested them. The friend said she convinced the girls to tell their mother. The friend said the defendant had made inappropriate advances to her and had peeked at her while she showered or changed clothes at her friends' home. The twins said they reported the man to police after seeing him at a restaurant when they were eating with their 5-year-old daughters.
"My sister and I had thought we had put this behind us -- out of sight, out of mind," one sister said. She said she thought about the man looking at their daughters "and we went to the police that night."
The man was arrested a month later and has been in jail awaiting trial since then. -- Please consider a dontion to support the work of the Pro-Life Infonet. You can send a donation to: Women and Children First, PO Box 5422, Helena, MT 59604-5422.