By AMANDA KIMBLE
TheFlashToday.com
ERATH COUNTY (February 22, 2017) – It took a jury of six men and six women about 10 minutes to find Victor Moreno Colunga guilty of sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony. The decision came after they heard expert testimony showing it was 47 million more times likely Colunga fathered the victim’s child than any other Hispanic male.
The jury is now deliberating the fate of Colunga, who faces 2 to 20 years in prison. If the jury assesses 10 years or less, they can opt to probate the sentence. The Flash will provide an update this story when jury return a verdict on punishment.
In asking for the jury to assess the maximum sentence, District Attorney Alan Nash spoke to the job before them.
“It’s time to do justice to this defendant and give justice to the victim,” Nash said. “He stole her innocence, virtue and love. She lost the natural, magical, almost supernatural time of motherly love for her baby during childbirth and the first few weeks of motherhood.”
Nash said a message need to be sent to Colunga’s sons, who need to know that what their father did is not acceptable and men do not use girls and women as tools of gratification.
While the victim, assigned the pseudonym Chrystal Waters, said she was raped by Colunga many times, over a number of years and in multiple counties, Nash spoke with The Flash, explaining why the case was not tried as the first-degree felony offenses of aggravated sexual assault of a child or continuous sexual assault.
Nash said aggravated sexual assault must include evidence of the threat of death or serious bodily injury. An aggravated offense can also occur in conjunction with a kidnapping or when the victim was under the age of 14.
“The assault that occurred in Erath County, for which we have living, breathing evidence – a child fathered by Victor Colunga – occurred when the victim was 15,” Nash said. “The offense was no doubt heinous, but we didn’t have evidence of threat of death of serious bodily injury or a kidnapping.”
Meanwhile, Nash said the investigation revealed allegations of potential crimes in Graham, Young County, and the victim described continuous conduct prior to the acts in Erath County, when Water was younger than 14 and residing in Tarrant County.
“It will be on the shoulder of others to deal with what happened in Tarrant County,” Nash said.
He also said a current law relating to continuous sexual assault, which could have sent Colunga to prison for 25 years to life, was not in effect until after 2005.
Prior to the guilty verdict, the jury heard from a final state’s witness, but they didn’t hear from the defendant who initially told his court-appointed defense attorney, Andrew Ottaway, he would testify Wednesday.
Colunga ultimately decided against taking the stand following testimony from the final state’s witness, Farrah Plopper, a DNA analyst from the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification.
Plopper told the jury she was responsible for testing genetic material in the case, which included biological samples obtained from Colunga, Waters and the victim’s daughter.
Plopper told the jury of staggering statistics, including a paternity index, that showed Colunga was the father of Waters’ child. She said it is 47 million times more likely that Colunga was the father than any other untested Hispanic male and 36 million times more likely than any other untested Caucasian man.
The defendant plead not guilty of the sexually assaulting Waters, telling investigators he had never engaging in sexual activity with the girl.
Meanwhile, Waters testified Tuesday, recounting continual sexual abuse. She told the jury the attacks began when she was about 10 years old, escalating from kissing and forced touches to penetration when she was about 13 years old.
Waters said the abuse occurred as many as four times per week, calling the attacks unwanted, brutal and forceful. She also said she gave birth to a baby girl that was “forced” upon her when she was just 15 years old and immediately knew Colunga was the father because she was not otherwise sexually active.
Waters is now 26 years old. She made an outcry to Dublin police after her 18th birthday, when she had moved out of the home she shared with her mother, siblings, Colunga and his family.
The victim said she had reported the attacks to her mother on multiple occasions, but her allegations of rape were not taken seriously and denied by Colunga.
The subsequent sentencing hearing included testimony from a single witness, Colunga’s mother.
Esperansa Colunga said her son was a good man, and the mother of victim was to blame for his legal problems.
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