Wichita father convicted of molesting 5-year-old twins gets 50 years

A Wichita father will spend at least 50 years in prison after being convicted of molesting his 5-year-old twin daughters, a Sedgwick County judge ordered last week.

Before handing down a life sentence for each of the father’s five convictions, District Judge Joe Kisner called the allegations – that the girls were raped and sodomized as punishment for misbehaving at school – “beyond comprehension” and “mind boggling.”

He ordered the father to serve two of the life sentences consecutively. The other three will run concurrently.

The Eagle is not naming the father to protect the identities of his daughters. He maintains his innocence.

“All I can say is I didn’t do what they say I did,” the father said in court last week.

Jurors convicted the father of three counts of raping a child younger than 14 and two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy of a child younger than 14 following a six-day trial in February. According to testimony and court records, the girls were 5 and in pre-kindergarten when their teacher became concerned for their welfare after they spoke of their father’s genitalia during a classroom discussion about what the students did over Mother’s Day weekend.

After talking individually with the girls, the teacher reported possible sexual abuse to authorities.

The father was arrested on May 11, 2015. The children’s mother testified at trial that she saw no signs of abuse.

The father “was the person charged by society – by God – to protect those little girls,” Kisner said last week before handing down the sentence. Based on evidence and testimony, “I believe he failed,” he said.

Defense attorney Val Wachtel said the girls’ recollection of events “is not our version of what happened.” He asked the judge to give the father a sentence that carries parole eligibility after 25 years, rather than after 50.

Because of a 2006 law that strengthened penalties for those who commit sex offenses against children younger than 14, the judge could have ordered the father to serve at least 125 years in prison. Wachtel called such a punishment “goofy” and said he doubted lawmakers meant for what amounts to “a death sentence” to be handed down in such cases.

Prosecutor Justin Edwards, meanwhile, said he felt a lengthy prison term fit the crimes. “The harm that he did to his own daughters – it changed their lives,” he said.

This story was originally published April 11, 2017 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Wichita father convicted of molesting 5-year-old twins gets 50 years."