HARRISON COUNTY, Miss.- It’s going to be 30 years behind bars for 36-year-old Tremayne Whittle for sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl.
WLOX reported, District Attorney Joel Smith said the investigation began after the girl told her family that Whittle, a family acquaintance, had sexually assaulted her. The victim testified the assault took place several months before she came forward, so no physical or DNA evidence could be collected.
Smith said the girl’s account of the assault was consistent with what she told her family, the nurse at Memorial Hospital and investigators.
The defense argued the entire story was fabricated. Assistant District Attorney Alison Baker reminded the jury that the victim was so scared of her attacker that she could not even look at Whittle in the courtroom.
“At her young age, she does not fully realize what you have taken from her. You have robbed her of the innocence of a child,” said Harrison County Circuit Court Judge Larry Bourgois.
Once released from prison, Whittle will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
