Sumo Dukulah. Credit: PPD
A former L.P. Hill Elementary School teacher was convicted Wednesday of forcibly raping his own daughter for eight years.
Sumo Dukulah was arrested in April 2013 after his daughter accused her father of sexually abuse, according to District Attorney Seth Williams.
“The evidence showed that the victim’s mother found out about the abuse years before,” according to a news release, “but sided with her husband and told her daughter not to tell anyone about the abuse because it would bring shame onto the family.
The abuse continued until the girl came forward last year.
“This poor girl lost most of her support system, including her own mother, for simply testifying about the horrific abuse she had to endure,” Williams said.
Dukulah faces a mandatory minimum of 10 to 20 years in prison, and a maximum of 64 to 128 years of incarceration. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 29, 2014 in courtroom 1102.
The girl’s mother, members of her father’s church, and other family friends appeared in court to support him.
“Yet, despite all of the hostility she faced from her own family for disclosing Dukulah’s brutal assaults, she remained resilient during her testimony,” according to the news release.
Dukulah was found guilty of rape of a child, rape forcible compulsion, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse forcible compulsion, unlawful contact with a minor, endangering the welfare of a child, and corruption of minors charges.
“I want to commend this extremely brave young woman,” said District Attorney Seth Williams. “Not only did she heroically face her attacker in court, she had to pay an imaginable price for that heroism.”
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