There were tense moments in McDuffie County Superior Court Monday as Deontavious Mew, 27, pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation. Mew did so in the form of an Alford plea, meaning he pleaded guilty without admitting to the facts of the case.
Mew was accused of molesting two girls, sisters, aged 6 and 9, at the home of their grandmother in July of 2019.
According to the prosecutor, the incidents did not become known until September of that year when the two girls tested positive for gonorrhea. In a first interview, the girls disclosed what had happened to them, and in a second interview, they identified Mew as the perpetrator.
The girls told interviewers that they did not initially identify Mew because, “he would hurt their mother if they told anyone,” according to prosecutors.
After admitting that the state could produce evidence to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, Judge Thomas Hammond accepted Mew’s guilty plea.
Tension began building as the victims’ mother gave a tearfully victim impact statement to the judge before sentencing.
“It’s a constant reminder of everything they’ve had to go through,” the woman told Hammond. “They wake up in the middle of the night afraid he will come after them.”
When the girls’ father approached to comfort the mother, court officers surrounded the two men and stepped between the podiums where they stood only feet apart. As the mother continued speaking, the victims’ father staring directly at Mew.
Mew’s public defender, Caryn Lobdell — noting prior sex offenses on Mew’s record — said that he had received treatment in the past.
“Clearly, the treatment was not effective,” she told the court before adding, “I understand they (the victims) are traumatized, but they no longer have to fear Mr. Mew.”
She urged the court to sentence her client at the lower end of the plea range agreed to in advance. Had the case gone to trial, a conviction could have resulted in minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 20 years in custody for each of the two counts. The plea agreement was for Mew to serve 19 years in custody and at least one year on probation.
“The act you inflicted on these children will follow them forever,” said Judge Hammond. “No matter what you do or say, the trauma that you placed in their lives will follow them forever. So there’s not anything you can do fix that.”
He then sentenced the defendant to 19 years in custody and one year of probation on the first count and 20 years of probation on the second count. He will also receive treatment while in custody and will have sex offender restrictions on him once he is released on probation.
When given the opportunity to address the court, Mew apologized.
“I’m sorry for my actions,” he said. “I want to say I’m sorry.”
But as he was guided from the courtroom, court officers again had to step between Mew and the victims’ father as the two men stared one another down.
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