Grandwood Park man gets 16 years for sexually assaulting child
A Grandwood Park man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl, authorities said Tuesday.
Nyasha Mbawa, 21, must serve 85 percent of his sentence before being eligible for parole, Lake County Assistant State's Attorney John Brown said. Mbawa, who is also required to register as a sex offender for life, has received 671 days credit for time served in Lake County jail since his arrest July 16, 2013, Brown added.
Brown said he asked Judge James Booras to sentence Mbawa to 26 years in prison for predatory criminal sexual assault.
Defense attorney Jed Stone, of Waukegan, said Mbawa's crime is directly related to being abused as a child by a trusted family friend. Stone asked Booras to sentence Mbawa to the minimum 12 years.
“I don't think 16 years in prison is unreasonable,” Stone said. “If I was granted access to additional information I requested, I believe I would have been able to bring that closer to the 12 years we had requested.”
Mbawa was facing 18 varying counts of sexually assaulting two young victims in 2012. He was arrested after the mother of one victim reported the assault to the Lake County sheriff's office.
Sheriff's police and the Lake County Children's Advocacy Center investigated the accusation, authorities said. Mbawa admitted to detectives he had inappropriate sexual contact with the children.
He was facing mandatory life in prison had he been found guilty of all counts at trial.
Mbawa initially pleaded guilty in 2014 to assaulting the youngest victim, but filed a motion to rescind that plea and go to trial. He changed his mind March 31, and accepted the original plea deal.
As part of the plea deal, the remaining charges against Mbawa were dropped.