DA: Mom didn't report molestation due to 'hectic' schedule

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia mother didn’t tell police that her boyfriend sexually abused her 6-year-old daughter because of her “hectic work schedule,” the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said.

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The boyfriend, Damylo Morrow, was convicted Thursday of sexual battery and acquitted of child molestation after a three-day trial.

The mother pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree cruelty to children for failing to report the abuse and telling the child to lie about it, the District Attorney’s Office said. She was sentenced to eight years’ probation under the First Offender Act and cannot have unsupervised contact with the child for the duration of her probation.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is withholding the identity of mother in this case in order to protect the identity of the child, who is a victim of sexual abuse.

The child’s grandmother brought her to Scottish Rite Hospital in April 2015 and told staff that the girl had been molested on Dec. 31, 2014. The grandmother was aware of the incident shortly after it happened but did not tell police because Morrow was already in jail on an unrelated charge, according to a release from the District Attorney’s Office.

The AJC is also withholding the identity of the grandmother in this case in order to protect the identity of the child.

Morrow massaged the child’s legs and removed her pants before touching her genitals, the child told a Gwinnett County Department of Family and Children Services worker at the hospital.

The child’s mother told a detective she was aware of the allegations in December of that year but didn’t report them because “she had a hectic work schedule” and Morrow denied touching her child, the release said.

When the child and her mother later went to Norcross Police Department headquarters for an interview with a detective, they were placed in an interview room to wait. While in the interview room, the mother told the child to say that Morrow never touched her, the release said.

During the interview, the child initially denied that Morrow had touched her but later told the detective that Morrow had touched her genitals, the release said.

Morrow was sentenced to three years in prison and two years of probation. Upon release, he must register as a sex offender.

Cox Media Group