Recently, there’s been increased visibility in news stories regarding the exploitation of children.
In Harris County, Texas, one abused child saw some justice served.
In 2019, when the girl’s mother caught a man abusing her daughter, the mother held the assailant at gunpoint until the police arrived. On March 29, 2022, the man pleaded guilty, and will spend the rest of his life in prison.
According to Newsweek, Sugar Land resident Ivan Alejandro Robles. 41, pleaded guilty the same day he was supposed to start a trial by jury. He was accused of continuous sexual abuse of a young child.
The assault was not an isolated incident. The abuse had gone on for the previous eight years, beginning when the child was just 5 years old. The girl was 13 when her mother caught Robles in the act on Jan. 5, 2019.
Robles’ relationship to the family was not reported.
The mother showed restraint by calling in the police, instead of dispensing vigilante revenge on the spot. When she called the authorities, she did threaten to shoot Robles. Instead, she just kept the predator at gunpoint until the police arrived.
As reported by NBC station KPRC 2 in Houston, the girl gave moving testimony in court during the punishment hearing, describing the horrors she endured. She confessed she even contemplated suicide when she was only 10.
She explained that when she resisted Robles, he cruelly punished her.
Condenan a cadena perpetua a Iván Alejandro Robles, después de declararse culpable de agredir sexualmente, en múltiples ocasiones, a una niña de 13 años.
➡️ https://t.co/XFjvZZ1OP2 pic.twitter.com/wYE2W1mu2t— Noticias45Houston (@noticiashouston) April 5, 2022
District Attorney Jessica Ramos, the lead prosecutor of the case, said, “I asked the victim how she felt after bravely confronting her abuser in court. She said she felt free.”
Fortunately, in this case, the justice system worked.
After Robles admitted his guilt, Judge Christian Becerra sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole. The defense had asked for the minimum sentence, 25 years.
Texas may be facing even more child abuse crimes soon. The Biden administration’s open borders policies have caused human trafficking to surge.
The young victims of human trafficking are especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
It’s sad to imagine what the sentence might have looked like if it was handed down by new Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
With Jackson’s record of leniency against those who commit crimes against children, the predator might have gotten away with an even lighter sentence than the 25 years requested.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.