Saturday, June 21, 1997
Father given 50 years for abuse of children
By RICHARD HORN / Abilene Reporter-News
Robert Carl Mullins was sentenced to 50 years in prison Friday
for inflicting what a prosecutor called "brutal sexual perversion"
on his children.
State District Judge Billy John Edwards handed down the sentence
after hearing hours of harrowing testimony, the type prosecutor
Sandy Self said "would make a hard-core pornographer blush."
Mullins' two children - his 8-year-old daughter and 11-year-old
stepson - related years of enduring the full range of sexual abuse
while their mother was out of the house. Mullins' own confession
described the acts in disgusting detail.
As difficult as it was for the children to re-live those horrors,
Self said, it was necessary to help put away a dangerous pedophile.
"They called him Daddy," she told Edwards, "and
I wanted you to hear how he destroyed that precious bond of trust."
Mullins, 38, deserved to be put away for life, Self said. If
ever a case called for maximum punishment, she told the judge,
this was it. She said afterward the 50-year sentence is appropriate
and tough.
Under Texas law, Mullins must serve 25 years before he's eligible
for parole; had he received life, he would have needed to serve
30 years.
"I know he's going to be there for at least 25 years and
he's in his late 30s," Self said. "I'm very pleased.
Hopefully, this sentence will keep him there the rest of his life."
Mullins' family, who argued he needed psychiatric help instead
of a long term in prison, left the courthouse without comment.
"He has been shoved aside and shoved aside all his life
by other people," his mother, Bonnie, testified Friday morning.
Defense attorney David Thedford argued his client may not be
legally incompetent or insane but is clearly a man with low intelligence
who should not be held as morally culpable as someone with a higher
IQ and more normal social background.
As he was led from the courthouse after sentencing, Mullins
told reporters he wanted his children to know he loves them, he
will miss them, and he's sorry for what he did to them.
Self said Mullins had never since his arrest expressed any
remorse for his crimes, showing more concern about his own predicament.
She praised the two young children, now living with their mother
in another state, for having the courage to tell what happened
to them, providing the state's most convincing evidence.
"I am so proud of them, and I am just amazed that they
could do what they did, get up there and talk about these horrible
things," Self said. "I know this has helped them be
able to have some closure."
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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