A man from Kyle, Texas has been sentenced to a hefty 52 years behind bars after being convicted for the sexual abuse of a child. 44-year-old Jacob Earl Shirejian faced the gavel on Monday for his heinous acts, having been found guilty on two first-degree felony counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two second-degree felony counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, KXAN reports.
The victim, a young girl brutally abused by Shirejian, began suffering the assault from as young as 6 or 7 years old. Her silence was broken when she reached her teenage years, revealing the torment to adults who then took action, the Hays Free Press informs. The trial brought to light the dark tale, with the jury in Hays County returning a guilty verdict on all accounts this past November 7.
District Judge Tanner Neidhardt handed down the sentence, consisting of two consecutive eight-year terms for the counts of indecency, and two consecutive 18-year terms for the aggravated assault counts, ensuring Shirejian serves each sentence back-to-back. This sentencing structure demands that Shirejian completes each term before the commencement of the next.
In the aftermath of a trial that laid bare the vile actions perpetrated upon a child, Hays County Criminal District Attorney Kelly Higgins expressed the gravity of the offense. "There is nothing more evil or more reprehensible than those who prey on children," said Higgins, adamant that her office will "continue to prosecute these cases to the fullest extent of the law" and defend the defenseless, as told to the Hays Free Press.
