'You did not destroy me, teen victim tells rapist in Trumbull court

Staff report

WARREN

A teenage girl told Brian McGhee in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court she’s not going to let four years of sexual assaults destroy her, even though it made her feel “broken for a while.”

McGhee, 44, of Dogwood Drive Southeast in the Westwood Lake Mobile Home Park in Weathersfield Township, received a prison term of 39 years to life Wednesday after being convicted at trial of 10 counts of rape, six of which carried a life prison sentence.

The girl testified at McGhee’s trial last month, saying McGhee raped her on nearly a daily basis, primarily in McGhee’s pickup truck.

Before sentencing, McGhee told Judge Ronald Rice, “I am an innocent man, and I’m going to prove that.”

“I let you win for a long time,” the girl said in her statement. “You got what you wanted from me. I let you control my mind. I let you take advantage of me, but it’s over now. For a long time, I felt bad. It took me quite a while to realize this wasn’t my fault,” she said.

“I’m not over it, and I never will be, but it’s not destroying me,” she said. “Find a new toy, because I’m not a victim of your abuse anymore.”

Read more of her remarks in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.