The rapist of a 15 year-old girl, that culminated in a pregnancy that the girl’s church tried to hide, has pleaded guilty to sexual assault, as reported by the Associated Press.
E.W., of Gilford, admitted to raping and impregnating, T.A., in 1997.
The two knew each other as they attended the same church and E.W. had hired T.A. to work as a babysitter for his children.
E.W. acknowledges that T.A. was underage for consent, but he claims that it wasn’t rape; he maintains that it was consensual.
T.A., 29 and now living in Arizona, has asked the Associated Press to release her name, though it is not standard practice for victims of sexual assault.
The trial is due to start on May 23. E.W. has been charged with three counts of forcible rape and a felonious sex assault charge.
His guilty plea deal will have him facing a 3 ½ to 7 year jail sentence.
Once the jury returns its verdict on the three forcible rape charges, per Superior Court Judge Larry Smukler, he will pronounce C.W. guilty on the felonious sexual assault charge.
Judge Smukler said that C.W.’s guilty plea would stand even if the trial ended in a mistrial.
C.W. allegedly offered to punch T.A. in the stomach to end her pregnancy. This information, per Judge Smukler, is irrelevant and inflammatory – since C.W. has already admitted to having sex with T.A.
He has told the prosecutors that they cannot admit any evidence in regards to the allegation.
The prosecutor, Wayne Coull, objected to the ruling and said that C.W. “offered to use violence on this child ... to conceal the crime.”
Beyond that, Judge Smukler has also ruled that T.A. cannot use the term, “cult”, in describing the inner-workings of the Trinity Baptist Church, the fundamentalist Baptist church in Concord that the two attended.
T.A. has further claimed that her mother brought her to pastor C.P., now the former Trinity Baptist Church pastor, for counseling after the rape. Due to her pregnancy, maintains T.A., the church made the arrangements to have her relocated to Colorado to await the baby’s delivery.
Once safely tucked away in Colorado, and living with a Baptist family, it was planned that T.A. would put her infant up for an immediate adoption.
In 1997, police stated that they began to investigate the rape allegations – but they were unable to locate T.A.
C.P. also, per T.A., had her stand up before the entire Trinity Baptist congregation to apologize for being unmarried and pregnant.
Judge Smukler will soon rule on whether C.P. will have to testify about the admissions made by C.W. in regards to the assaults. C.W.’s lawyer is arguing that the information is privileged.
Coull is arguing that since a lawyer was present during the conversations, any privilege between the church member and the clergy is undermined.
The aggravated felonious sexual assault charge penalty carries a sentence between 10 and 20 years.
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