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EDITOR’S NOTE: It is the policy of the Tyler Morning Telegraph to not name the victims of sexual assault to protect their identities and encourage the reporting of such crimes.

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

Undre Demon Stewart was sentenced Wednesday to 75 years in prison for raping an 8-year-old girl he babysat more than two years ago.

The 24-year-old Tyler man was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child for the January 2005 incident and was sentenced to prison and a $10,000 fine after a jury deliberated for about two hours in 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr.’s court.

Stewart, who faced probation or five years to life in prison, will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years.

On Tuesday, the victim, now 11 and in the fourth grade, testified about how Stewart, whom she knew as “Fat Daddy” raped her on three occasions while he babysat her and her siblings and cousins. Each time, Stewart told her that if she told anyone about what he did, he would “whoop” her, she said.

The defendant testified, denying that he ever had sex with the girl and that he ever babysat her during the time frame of the allegations.

CLOSING ARGUMENTS

Assistant District Attorney Joe Murphy said the jurors got to decide when they wanted a child molester back on the streets.

“The defendant through his acts gave a life sentence. … Today, it’s his turn to get one,” he said, adding that a life sentence would ensure that for as long as possible, he couldn’t re-offend.

Murphy said predators prey on the weak and said it worked that Stewart threatened to “whoop” the 8-year-old girl if she told anyone. He said it was something the girl would have to deal with for the rest of her life.

He told the jurors the way they could protect their children is to “make sure the predators cannot prey. … You do that by taking him away.”

Defense attorney Clifton Roberson asked the jurors to sentence his client to probation and said a 60-year to life sentence would not be appropriate in the case. He said if he received probation and messed up, Stewart would be sent to prison.

Assistant Smith County District Attorney Zach Davis said a life sentence would send a message to the victim, the defendant and child molesters in the community that the crime will never be tolerated.

He said the victim, “an innocent little girl,” deserves to know Stewart will never have a chance to hurt her again.

On June 18, 2007, the victim said she was caught by her grandparents doing something she shouldn’t have been doing with her 12-year-old male cousin. When her grandmother began talking to her about it, she told her about what Stewart had done to her, she said.

Stewart said he babysat the girl, as well as her siblings and cousins, from 1997 through 2001, but never babysat the girl again and definitely did not watch her in 2004 and 2005.

When asked if he ever had sex with the girl, he said, “No sir, I did not.”

He said he has known the girl her entire life and knew of no reason why she wouldn’t like him. “I don’t know why she would make it up,” Stewart said.

Stewart was arrested in Arizona in October.

Tyler Police Detective Paul Robeson, who investigated the case, said sex offenders are more likely to re-offend than other criminals. He said one way to ensure they won’t commit the same type of crime again is to put them in prison so they don’t have access to the victims.

Robeson said child victims will be affected by the sexual abuse for the rest of their lives.

In April 2004, Stewart was convicted of misdemeanor possession of marijuana and was sentenced to probation, but his probation was revoked and he received a 100-day jail term.