A 37-year-old South Carolina man was handed a life imprisonment sentence after being found guilty of raping and impregnating a 10-year-old girl.
Tony Orlanda Singleton was tied to the crime after DNA evidence from the fetus of the girl’s abortion proved he was the father.
The sad incident came to light in April 2016, after the little girl told a forensic interviewer that the rapist came into her bedroom while she was watching cartoon and forced her to have sex with him after turning off the television and lights.
The rape case was taken up after her mother took her to a doctor to terminate the pregnancy.
“This girl should be getting ready to go back to school, making friends, braiding her hair – things other girls her age typically are engaged in,” said prosecutor Hunter Swanson of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who called 10 witnesses during the two-day trial.
“Instead, she’s in a courtroom, reliving a horrific ordeal. Tony Singleton is to blame for that. This man was someone she trusted, someone who lurked inside her home, someone who changed the fabric of his victim’s life forever.”
Deliberating on the case in less than an hour, Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen handed Singleton a ife sentence without parole.
