Milford Superior Court Judge Frank Iannotti on Wednesday sentenced Kerry McGuire to serve 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting a girl he knew when she was between the ages of 9 and 13.
The assaults happened in Shelton and Fairfield.
But as the female victim told Judge Iannotti during McGuire’s sentencing, no prison term would be adequate to repair the damage wrought to her and her family.
“Kerry’s sentence is nowhere near long enough for me,” she said. “Kerry McGuire doesn’t deserve to see the light of day or feel fresh air as a free man. The thought of him coming near me terrifies me.”
Before imposing the jail term, Judge Iannotti said it was hard to argue her point.
“You have just destroyed the lives of people and families by your actions,” the judge told McGuire. “In listening to the family, it’s difficult not to agree with them. I don’t know if there’s any sentence significant enough to punish you for these actions.”
McGuire’s abuse of the girl spanned several years, according to Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Cornelius Kelly.
Earlier this year McGuire pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault in the Fairfield case and to first-degree sexual assault and illegal sexual contact with a minor in the Shelton case.
McGuire has been behind bars since last August, when he was arrested by Shelton and Fairfield police and held in lieu of bonds totaling $400,000 in the two cases.
In court Wednesday, the girl’s mother told Judge Iannotti that McGuire “terrorized and abused” her daughter.
“Our lives were shattered by the defendant,” the woman said, adding that her family has only now begun “to pick up the pieces of our lives form the destruction this man caused.”
“In my heart, there will never be justice for the torture and brutality inflicted on my family by the defendant,” she said later. “I find comfort that my children will be adults by the time this monster is released into society.”
Afterward, the woman’s daughter told the judge of the effects McGuire’s abuse had on her.
“Kerry began sexually abusing me at the age of 9,” she said, noting that she kept the abuse secret. “I suffered in silence at Kerry’s hands for years.”
The girl told Judge Iannotti that she’s still haunted by the memories of McGuire’s abuse, but refuses to let those memories control her life, and thanked her family for standing behind her as she went through treatment and counseling.
Several of the girl’s family members accompanied her to court Wednesday. Shelton Police Detective Michael Fusco, who arrested McGuire in August, also sat with the family.
McGuire’s lawyer, Robert Photos, said the case was “very difficult,” and asked Judge Iannotti to impose the 10-year sentence.
McGuire addressed the court and apologized.
Before handing down his sentence, Judge Iannotti cautioned McGuire to “not go looking for another victim” while on probation after he gets out of prison.
He then handed down an 18-year prison sentence to be suspended after McGuire serves 10 years, with 20 years of probation.
While on probation, Judge Iannotti ordered McGuire to register for life as a sex offender, seek sex offender and substance abuse treatment, maintain full-time employment, and barred him from contacting the victim or her family.
