PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A judge sentenced a convicted child molester to 12 ½ years in prison despite a 17-year-old Portland girl recanting her story of sexual abuse.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Multnomah County Circuit Judge Leslie Roberts sentenced the molester — Hassan Mohamedhaji Noor — to serve time after discovering two months ago that the girl was the product of intense pressure from family and others in her Somali American community not to speak out.
Noor’s defense attorney, Christopher McCormack, asked for 6 ¼ years. He says Noor, who maintains his innocence, has done a lot of good as a hard-working father of six.
After a four-day trial in December, the judge found Noor guilty of sexually abusing three girls in his tight-knit immigrant community, which numbers about 8,000 in Portland.