In a horrifying event, an Oklahoma mother was stirred from her sleep by the distressing screams of her five-year-old daughter. Initially assuming it was a bad dream, the mother faced a dreadful reality as she entered her child’s room.
Lamanda, the mother who wishes to only be identified by her first name, discovered a stranger assaulting her daughter upon rushing to check on her. She bravely attacked the intruder, 29-year-old Kyle Hancock, managing to fend him off until he escaped through a kitchen window. However, the nightmare for Lamanda and her daughter had only just begun.
The family, unfamiliar with Hancock, had only his physical description to provide when reporting the crime to the police. The incident soon made local headlines, leading to a community-wide manhunt for the assailant. An anonymous woman recognized him from the news, and authorities apprehended him at his Tulsa apartment. To preserve evidence, the police escorted him into custody wearing a white plastic jumpsuit, as reported by Fox 23.
Tragically, the young girl was not Hancock’s only victim. A convicted sex offender who had failed to register his address with the police, he chose this particular child at random, not wanting to subject someone he knew to such torment. During his arrest, Hancock chillingly admitted to the crime, telling a male witness, “I have a demon in me.”
Sergeant Brandon Wycoff told News On 6:
“He’s a registered sex offender for a similar offense a few years back. Guys like this don’t ever need to be on the street again. He shouldn’t have got out as quickly as he did from the first time.”
During the trial, the five-year-old girl bravely testified against Hancock, supported by Bikers Against Child Abuse members. The judge cleared the courtroom due to the sensitivity of her testimony. Seated in a booster seat, the young girl, dressed in pink and white, recounted the night she was attacked by a stranger who had broken into her home.
Sarah McAmis, Tulsa County Assistant District Attorney, explained the importance of making the child feel comfortable and empowered when testifying. McAmis said, “I was very, very proud of her. She is strong, she is smart and she did an excellent job.”
When Hancock was given the chance to speak, he requested a moment of silence for his victims, prayed, and sought their forgiveness. However, his apparent remorse was insincere, as evidenced by letters he wrote from jail, in which he offered various excuses for his crime, ultimately accusing the family of framing him despite the damning DNA evidence.
Ultimately, Hancock confessed to not only assaulting the girl and recording the act on his phone but also to molesting other children who were relatives and friends’ children. The judge, however, was unsympathetic to his pleas for leniency and rejected his request for castration in exchange for a reduced 15-year sentence.
Instead, the judge delivered a harsher punishment by sentencing Hancock to life in prison without parole, ensuring he would never again threaten the safety of children. The ruling highlights the importance of recognizing that child molesters cannot be rehabilitated and should be permanently removed from society, either by the death penalty or lifelong imprisonment.
Thanks to this judge’s decision, Oklahoma’s children are now safer with Hancock unable to prey on them ever again.