After a decade-long pursuit for justice, a rape case involving a young child has finally concluded. A Nashville district attorney's office announcement details the conviction of Leopold Mpawinayo for the Class A Felony charge of Rape of a Child. At the time of the assault in 2015, the victim—a stranger to Mpawinayo—was only 12 years old. Despite immediate reporting, the DNA match linking Mpawinayo to the crime and several others didn't surface until five years later in CODIS, the national DNA crime database.
Assistant District Attorneys Lauren Hogan and Macy Pesavento secured the guilty verdict in the case. Progress in the investigation was made after Detective Rob Carrigan, of the Crimes Against Children unit, located the victim nearly a decade after the initial report. Victim Witness Coordinators Alex Ondrus and Hannah Estes provided ongoing support to the victim throughout the legal process.
The jury required only 30 minutes to deliberate before delivering the guilty verdict against Mpawinayo, as detailed in the Nashville district attorney's office announcement. The offense, Rape of a Child, is classified as a mandatory Range 2 crime and carries a heavy penalty—25 to 40 years of prison time at 100%. The sentencing for Mpawinayo is set for September 4, pending no legal interruptions.
