Judge hands down sentence for Port Matilda man convicted of child rape
A Port Matilda man convicted of raping and sexually abusing two preteen girls at a Taylor Township farm was sentenced Tuesday to 30-60 years in state prison.
Centre County Judge Katherine Oliver said she gave the sentence “a significant amount of thought” and “struggled” with her decision because of Elijah Weaver’s age, 20. The sentence was warranted, she said, because the abuses are “not something that can be forgotten.”
Weaver perpetrated the sexual assaults in a “terrifying manner,” Centre County Assistant District Attorney Megan McGoron said before the sentence was announced. She declined to comment after the hearing.
“No amount of time that you sentence the defendant will erase the memories of (the girls),” McGoron told Oliver before the sentence was announced. “This is not a life sentence that I’m asking for.”
The girls disclosed the sexual abuses during interviews at the Children’s Advocacy Center. Weaver admitted to the abuse during an interview with state police at Rockview in December, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by police.
A jury in July convicted the Tyrone Area High School graduate of six counts of child rape, 10 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, six counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child and six count of indecent assault of a child. He was acquitted of one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse after a two-day trial.
First Assistant Public Defender Deb Lux said Weaver’s confession was the result of “suggestive questioning,” while McGoron said the girls “must be Meryl Streep” if jurors were to believe Lux.
This story was originally published August 27, 2019 at 12:43 PM.