73-Year-Old Man Convicted Of Raping Teen Relative

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — A 73-year-old Gwinnett County man has been convicted of repeatedly raping a teen relative of his over the course of several years.

A Superior Court jury took two hours Thursday to convict Benjamin Daniels on charges of rape, aggravated child molestation, child molestation and incest. He is scheduled to be sentenced for his crimes on August 1.

Evidence during Benjamin's four-day trial showed that on Sept. 19, 2014, a sister of Benjamin's then 15-year-old victim walked into a bedroom to discover Daniels — who was 70 at the time — on top of the victim in the act of sexual intercourse.

The sister who saw the act reported it to administrators at South Gwinnett High School the following Monday. When approached by school administrators and Snellville Police, the victim said she'd been molested by Daniels on and off for more than seven years at locations in Clayton, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties.

She acknowledged she was being raped when her sister saw the act, but said she didn't say anything because "she was used to it." She told police she'd maintained her silence out of fear for what the information would have done to her family and out of physical fear of Daniels — who had previous served prison time for voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a sawed-off shotgun.

During his trial, Daniels maintained that he had never done anything sexually inappropriate to the victim, that he had rejected her sexual advances the day her sister saw them and, also, that he believes Georgia's legal age for sexual consent should be lowered from 16 to 14.

The August 1 sentencing day in the case, set by Judge Tom Davis, is meant to allow the victim and her family to testify regarding Daniels' sentence.

Photo via Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office