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July 16, 2005
Man, 44, gets life sentence for rape of child
Ronald Wayne Robertson receives maximum sentences after multiple convictions for attacking 9-year-old girl.
A Mobile man convicted in May of raping and sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl was sentenced Friday to life plus 10 years.
Ronald Wayne Robertson, 44, received the maximum sentences for first-degree rape and first-degree sex abuse. Mobile County Circuit Judge Joseph "Rusty" Johnston also ordered that the sentences be served one after the other.
After a two-day trial in May, a jury deliberated 90 minutes before convicting Robertson.
His victim, now 12, testified that a few years before, in the bedroom of a Mobile home, Robertson forced sexual intercourse on her on three or more occasions while also fondling her.
"He told me to go to the bedroom and take my clothes off, lay on the bed and be still," the girl said during the trial. "He told me to stay still, and he got on top of me. It hurt really bad."
There apparently was a significant gap in time between the incidents and the victim's reporting them. She explained to jurors that Robertson threatened to harm members of her family if she ever told anyone about the attacks. She finally confided in a counselor at a church function.
Other testimony during the May trial suggested this was not the first time sexual allegations involving children were raised against Robertson, but it was unclear whether there had been previous arrests.
Robertson also testified during the trial, acknowledging he knew the child through a family member but denying her allegations that he raped and abused her.
He did not speak Friday, but Mobile defense attorney Claude Patton said his client continued to stand by his innocence.
Other defense witnesses spoke up for Robertson, telling Johnston that Robertson was a good man and neighbor and the kind of person who was the first to come to someone's aid in times of need or trouble.
They asked the judge for a lenient sentence.
Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Steve Giardini suggested to Johnston that Robertson's show of helping people was a form of manipulation and merely a tactic he used to get close to children.
Johnston "was obviously not persuaded by the requests for leniency," Giardini said outside court. "He imposed a just sentence."
Posted by Nealus at July 16, 2005 10:28 PM
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