5 years for rapist who impregnated victim

A Glendale Heights man was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday for raping a woman who later gave birth to his child.

Jhovanny Brito, 23, was convicted in December of the Nov. 28, 2008, sexual assault outside a West Chicago tavern on the 1200 block of West Hawthorne Lane.

Prosecutors said the victim, then 21, was randomly attacked after she stepped into a secluded outdoor patio area of the bar for a cigarette at the same time as Brito, who threw her to the ground and raped her.

Nine months later, she gave birth to his daughter.

“To this day I cannot think of a way to tell her (the child) without hurting her,” the victim wrote in a statement to the court.

Assistant State's Attorney Enza LaMonica sought a 13-year prison sentence for Brito, an illegal immigrant who is married with a son.

She argued the randomness of the assault, combined with the lifelong impact to the victim, warranted a sentence that would deter others.

“He created a life in the most miserable of conditions,” LaMonica said. “He's the guy who hides in parking garages, who hides in cars. He's the guy to be afraid of in the dark.”

But Brito, who maintains the sex was consensual, had no prior history of violence or serious crime, his attorneys argued. He also is likely to face deportation to Mexico upon his release from prison and must register as a sex offender for life.

DuPage County Judge George Bakalis sentenced Brito to just one year more than the minimum allowed for the offense.

In doing so, he noted the defendant had no significant criminal history and was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the attack.

“That's not an excuse, but alcohol certainly did have a factor in this crime,” he said.

Bakalis, who found Brito guilty at a bench trial, said he continues to “strongly believe this was in not any way a consensual situation.”

He encouraged the victim to continue raising her daughter in a loving home.

“She will see what you've done for her through the course of her life and won't be concerned so much with the circumstances in which she entered the world,” Bakalis said.

The victim, who has since moved in with family out of state, said she won't accept child support from Brito because she does not want him to seek custody rights.

“I will not have my daughter around a rapist,” she said. “I do not want my daughter to know the man who raped me.”

By law, Brito must serve four years and three months before he will be eligible for parole.