PHILIPSBURG--A prosecutor has demanded a partially conditional four-year prison sentence for a man accused of having sexually assaulted his then-12-year-old stepdaughter, and the grooming and rape of another 14-year-old girl.
R.E.A.K. (29) denied the allegations during his trial last Thursday, claiming that his stepdaughter had lied about several alleged instances of inappropriate sexual contact that she said had started when she was nine years old.
K. admitted to having contacted the 14-year-old on social media platform Instagram, but claimed that she had told him that she was an adult. He denied having ever met up with her in real life, including her claim that he forced her to have sex in his car earlier this year.
The prosecutor asked for acquittal on two of the three charges related to K.’s former stepdaughter, saying there was no supporting evidence to prove the allegations.
However, the prosecutor believed the judge could find K. guilty of sexual assault stemming from an incident in February 2023, when she was 12 years old. In this case, the victim’s account of inappropriate touching is supported by her younger sister’s testimony of them being “close together” on the couch, the prosecutor argued.
K. claimed that his stepdaughter had been crying about something that happened at school with her friends. He told the court that he had called her over for a hug, but she tripped and fell into his lap just as the sister walked in the room.
As for the 14-year-old, the prosecutor tried to disprove K.’s claim that he believed she was 31 years old by showing a video to the court.
This video, which depicted the girl doing what appeared to be a social media challenge, was sent by her on WhatsApp and had been found in a search of K.’s phone. After watching the video, the judge turned to the court recorder and instructed her to write in the official trial transcript that his impression was that the girl was “clearly a minor.”
The prosecutor also read messages from recovered WhatsApp chats between the two, including one that seemed to indicate a meeting. This exchange had K. saying he was “on the way,” followed by a message saying “here” and then 90 minutes without contact between them. According to the prosecutor, the day before this exchange, K. had asked the girl: “What school you go to?”
In another message, K. was quoted as saying: “If I pick you up to drop you school, I want sex. I’m on my way already, so what you going do?”
K. told the court that he thought he was being deceived with fake videos. “I didn’t know if that was her. I thought she was scamming,” he said.
However, the prosecutor argued that the messages show K. putting increasing pressure on the girl for sex, which later culminated in rape. The prosecutor believed the girl’s account to be credible too, arguing that it was supported by the relative who saw her crying after the crime and whom she later told what had happened.
“He tried to groom a young, vulnerable teenager. And when his efforts proved fruitless, he raped her,” the prosecutor said.
Considering three of the five charges proven, the prosecutor demanded a prison sentence of four years, of which one year would be conditional, on three years’ probation. He also asked for K. to be banned from contacting his victims.
K.’s lawyer Safira Ibrahim pleaded for a full acquittal on insufficient evidence.
In the stepdaughter’s case, Ibrahim pointed out that the sister does not testify that anything sexual was going on between K. and the alleged victim, only that they were “close,” Unlike the prosecutor, she argued that this supports her client’s version of events.
Ibrahim also questioned the reliability of the stepdaughter as a witness, reading from police interviews where her mother and sister testified that she often tells lies for attention or to get out of trouble.
The stepdaughter’s case started after her biological father filed a police complaint about K. in November 2023. Ibrahim argued that it was strange that he was only arrested in April 2025, or almost 18 months later.
In the case of the 14-year-old, Ibrahim questioned whether the relative could be considered a supporting witness. She argued that the relative probably had been informed of the alleged victim’s police interview in June and therefore could have been influenced before their own interview in August.
Ibrahim also put forward a theory that the alleged victim had been guided by police to say she had been raped. She argued that the girl initially did not mention saying “no” or resisting K.’s advances in any way. She only said she had when detectives asked follow-up questions, Ibrahim said.
The judge will render a verdict on November 20.
