A Spalding County man convicted of sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl was ordered last week to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Markel Taiwon Amey, 32, molested the victim over the course of a year, and he threatened the girl and her siblings with physical abuse to keep them silent, according to prosecutors.
Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Marie Broder announced the conviction Friday. Amey was convicted of aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, sexual battery of a child under 16, two counts of first-degree cruelty to children and three counts of child molestation.
Amey was arrested in November 2019, Spalding County jail records show. His abuse didn’t come to light until the victim’s younger brother told his stepmother that Amey locked himself in the bedroom with the victim whenever their father left for work. The DA’s news release did not detail a specific relationship between Amey and the victim.
Superior Court Judge W. Fletcher Sams, who presided over the trial, sentenced Amey to life in prison plus 20 years, followed by another 20 years of probation, Broder said.
A jury found him guilty following a trial that lasted three days. Sams handed down his ruling July 14, according to court records.
During sentencing, the judge called the children “heroes” and told the victim she would never have to worry about Amey abusing her again.
“This week, members of our Spalding County community stood in the gap between a predator and his victim and said, ‘No more,’” Broder said in a statement.
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