By AMANDA KIMBLE
TheFlashToday.com
ERATH COUNTY (February 22, 2017) – The trial against Victor Moreno Colunga got underway Tuesday afternoon in the 266th Judicial District Court. The defendant, 42, is charged with sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony.
If convicted, he faces two to 20 years in prison for alleged ongoing attacks on a minor female who gave birth to his child.
According to court-appointed defense attorney Andrew Ottaway, Colunga will take the stand Wednesday.
On day one of the trail, District Attorney Alan Nash presented opening arguments, saying the jury would not need any more proof than the evidence presented by the state’s witnesses, including Ranger Danny Briley with the Texas Department of Public Safety and the alleged victim, who was assigned the pseudonym Chrystal Waters.
Police involvement in the case dates back to 2005 when the Waters, who was 15 years old at the time, gave birth to a child. But, Nash told the jury that Colunga had dated the girl’s mother for several years and began acting inappropriately with the child at a young age.
Nash said testimony would paint a picture of a girl who was forced to learn how to survive in a home where she should have been the safest but was instead abused. He also said the victim had made numerous outcries about the abuse, but Water’s mother didn’t believe her.
During his testimony, Briley said he became involved in the case in 2010 by request of District Attorney Jason Cashon, who now serves as district judge.
Due to his previous involvement as prosecutor, Cashon has recused himself from presiding over the case Judge Don Jones is serving as acting judge.
Meanwhile, Briley said working off of evidence obtained from Dublin Police Department, he worked to corroborate Waters’ account of abuse and numerous sexual assaults against her, naming Colunga as the perpetrator.
Briley said he interviewed Colunga, who denied sexual contact with Waters, but the investigator said certain things the defendant said during the investigation “raised flags.” He said Colunga pointed out the fact that Waters had two children and didn’t know who the father of one of them was.
Briley said he was eventually able to obtain DNA samples from the victim, her child and Colunga. Briley also said he was not able to obtain samples from the defendant, who is not a United States citizen and was in the country illegally. Those samples were not obtained until he re-entered the country in 2012.
The biological evidence provided the smoking gun in the case, confirming Colunga was the child’s father.
The victim, now 26, took the stand, saying she was the oldest of four children when their parents separated. Waters was nine years old and family lived in Tarrant County at the time. She said about a year later her mother introduced her to Colunga, and her family moved in with the defendant and a houseful of his relatives a couple of months later.
“Right off the bat, he showed me he had very bad intentions,” Waters said, saying the defendant started by showing her to French kiss, asking about her body and telling her she was becoming a beautiful young woman.
Colunga allegedly made the victim, who was about 10 years old at the time, inappropriately touch him.
Waters testified she moved out of the home a short time later after reporting the incidents to her grandmother. She said she lived with family in San Antonio for about two years, but ultimately grew homesick and moved back in with her family, the defendant and his family.
The victim said after about a month in the home, she was raped by Colunga numerous times in their White Settlement house. Water spoke of numerous incidents of sexual assault beginning when she was almost 13 years old, calling the unwanted sexual attacks – which occurred as often as four times a week – both brutal and forceful.
“I made several outcries to my mom, but it was always dismissed because I would only say it when I was upset,” the victim said, adding she didn’t tell anyone else at the time and Colunga denied the acts, saying the Water was a jealous daughter bent on destroying their relationship.
The family moved to Erath County in 2005, when Waters was 14 years old. She said the sexual assaults continued and attempt to fight off her attacker – punching, scratching and kicking – were unsuccessful.
Water also testified Colunga had threatened her and the safety of her family if she made another outcry, saying she didn’t feel like she could escape the situation.
In August 2005, about two weeks prior to Waters’ sophomore year in high school, Waters said she was attacked by Colunga after failing to complete her chores. She said the defendant grabbed her by the arm, threw her to floor and told her he would teach her a lesson, brutally raping the 14-year-old.
Waters said she started getting sick a month or two later, feeling exhausted, nauseated and experiencing other symptoms. A routine sports physical a few months later, explained her symptoms and expressed concerned. A urine test revealed the teenager was pregnant.
“I cried like she told me I had cancer,” Waters said, adding she immediately knew the identity of the father of her unborn child. “I wasn’t being sexually active with any other boys.”
The victim said she was sickened by the news and wanted to have an abortion.
“It was too late,” Waters said. “My baby had her feet. I knew it was a girl, and I couldn’t terminate. I am glad I didn’t.”
She said her family assumed she had a boyfriend they didn’t know about and she didn’t correct them.
“It is different knowing in my mind who the father of my baby was and speaking out loud,” Waters said. “I was embarrassed.”
Waters gave birth to her child just four days after her mother had given birth to a son.
“I wanted to raise her as my sister, not my child,” she said. “We were going to pass them off as twins.”
When her daughter was born, Waters, who was 15, said she felt no love for the child.
“I felt sad, confused,” she said. “Ready to give up my child to my mom. He was her father, I was 15. I didn’t go out and have unprotected sex, it was a baby that was forced upon me.”
But, Waters had a change of heart a few months later when her brother accidentally dropped the baby.
“I got upset,” she said, adding her brother told her she shouldn’t care as she did not act like the baby’s mother.
“From that day on, I started taking care of her,” Waters added. “I had a change of heart, I was going to care of her and protect her – and I did from that day on.”
When she was “finally legal,” and able to leave the home, Waters did. At 18 years old, in 2008, she and her child moved out.
She said eventually her mother started having problems with Colunga and was convinced to move to San Antonio, away from the defendant.
Meanwhile, Waters was experiencing flashback of the assaults she suffered. She said her boyfriend convinced her to speak out about the years of abuse by Colunga and she reported the incidents to police in Dublin.
Erath County District Court begins at 9 a.m. in the courthouse annex.
Be the first to comment