To Spare a Girl, 8, the Trauma of Testifying, Man's Sex Assault Charges Reduced

Sexual assault charges against John Kuduah, 53, of Manchester were reduced in state Superior Court in Hartford after a prosecutor said the family of an 8-year-old girl wanted to spare her the trauma of testifying in his trial, according to a Hartford Courant report.

The newspaper reported that the prosecutor, Donna Mambrino, gave that explanation for reducing the charges, including five counts of first-degree sexual assault, which mean that Kuduah would not be sentenced to any prison time after entering no-contest pleas to unlawful restraint, coercion and third-degree assault.

The girl told her pediatrician that it hurt for her to urinate after Kuduah tried to penetrate her; he held his hand over her mouth to muffle her screams, Mambrino told the judge in court on Monday, the newspaper reported.

Kuduah, a friend of the family, was living in the same home with the girl, who was living their after her mother had been murdered in Baltimore, according to the report, which said Kuduah maintained another man living there had committed the sexual assault. Police haven’t been able to find that man. Kuduah is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 29.