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"T
This is
probably one of the most aggravated and violent felonies against
a child we've seen in years," Salt Lake County District Attorney
David Yocom said of the attack on an 11-year-old girl. Her
alleged attacker was charged Wednesday. (Trent Nelson/The Salt
Lake Tribune)
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BY
ASHLEY BROUGHTON
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Alerted by a neighbor who had reported a voice crying for help, two
Midvale police officers responding early Monday heard a "whimper or
yelp," and, as they drew closer, thumping sounds and a girl pleading,
"I won't tell."
The officers jumped the fence
into the girl's back yard, where one pursued a fleeing man and the
other stayed to help the 11-year-old. She had been sexually assaulted,
beaten and was "bleeding profusely from injuries to her head and
face," court documents filed Wednesday said.
"This is probably one of the most aggravated and violent felonies
against a child we've seen in years," said David Yocom, Salt Lake
County district attorney, in announcing charges against suspect
28-year-old Javier Wilford Sickler.
Sickler of
Magna was charged with attempted aggravated criminal homicide, child
kidnapping and attempted rape of a child, first-degree felonies that
carry a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted. He also was
charged with forcible sex abuse and child abuse, second-degree
felonies that carry a 1-to-15-year sentences.
The charge of attempted rape of a child will be changed, Yocom said,
if test results confirm the girl was raped. She had been taken from
her bedroom in her family's home in the 100 block of East Forbush
Avenue.
Sickler also was charged in the Aug. 3
rape of a 31-year-old woman in Midvale. The woman had reported the
rape immediately, and called police after seeing Sickler's photo on
television following Monday's attack.
The
Midvale girl remained in critical condition at Primary Children's
Medical Center on Wednesday, but was continuing to show signs of
improvement, said hospital spokeswoman Bonnie Midget. The girl
underwent nine hours of surgery Monday.
Doctors
said every bone in the middle of the girl's face was broken. According
to the charges against Sickler, several of her teeth were knocked out,
one molar was driven into her sinus cavity and her lips were cut
through.
Emergency personnel who treated the
girl at the scene told police she said she had been beaten with a
hammer. Police found a hammer belonging to the girl's father in the
family's front yard, the charges said, but it does not appear to be
the weapon used in the attack.
The girl told
police she did not know her assailant's name, but said her father knew
him. Police said the girl's father knew Sickler from high school and
the two recently had re-established contact.
A
neighbor called police about 1:30 a.m. Monday, reporting suspicious
noises. Officers Greg McArthur and Brandon Hopkins responded, but did
not hear anything at first, the charges said. As they drove around the
block, the neighbor heard a female crying for help and saying, "Please
let me go, please let me go!" The neighbor called 911 again.
McArthur and Hopkins returned, and got out of
their car. They heard a whimper, drove closer to the girl's back yard,
and then heard her pleading with her attacker. After a brief chase,
Sickler was arrested by K-9 officer Jared Richardson and his dog,
Vader.
A car registered to Sickler was found
parked in front of the house next door. Inside, police found an
archery set and tools belonging to the girl's father.
The girl's brother told police a man had come
in the home earlier that night and asked for their father, the charges
said. His sister went upstairs to call their father, but the man was
gone when the children returned.
After 12:00
a.m. Monday, the boy said the same man came in and looked in his
sister's bedroom, then the living room, court documents said. The boy
pretended he was asleep, then went into his sister's room to sleep
with her. When he woke up, he said, his sister was gone.
The children's grandmother, who also lived in
the home, told police she woke up at 12:30 a.m. to go to work, and saw
Sickler walking to the side of her house. She left home shortly after
1 a.m., she said. In the Aug. 3 rape, which occurred near 7200 S.
State Street, Sickler is charged with aggravated kidnapping, two
counts of rape, forcible sodomy, attempted forcible sodomy and two
counts of forcible sexual abuse. The victim was dragged into a ditch
and sexually assaulted while her attacker repeatedly punched her in
the head and face, police said. The woman suffered bruises, cuts and
abrasions.
Sickler was jailed in 1994 on
suspicion of rape, but prosecutors declined to file charges, saying
the case needed further investigation. Efforts by police to find the
victim for that additional investigation failed, authorities said
Tuesday.
Even if the 1994 victim came forward,
Yocom said Wednesday, charges could not be filed because the four-year
statute of limitations in that case has expired.
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