Gwinnett Man Molested Niece For Over A Decade

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — Jury members exchanged hugs with a young woman and her family after convicting her uncle of sexually abusing her for more than a decade.

Mongkhon Leekomon, of Norcross, was convicted Friday on charges of aggravated child molestation, child molestation and incest. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 6, with a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison.

Leekomon, who was married to his victim's sister, began abusing her in 1998, when she was four years old. That abuse happened in DeKalb County until the family moved to Norcross about six years later. The sexual attacks continued until at least 2009.

Prosecutors say the victim and her other would visit Leekomon and his family and Leekomon would watch the girl while her mother and aunt ran errands. He began touching her inappropriately, telling her they were playing a game and asking her not to tell her mother.

These incidents happened more than 50 times. When she was about 10 years old, Leekomon began performing a sex act on the underage girl. She testified that, during those times, her body would become frozen and she didn't know what to do.

He would also begin forcing her to touch him sexually.

For years, the victim didn't tell her mother or father, who was a DeKalb County police officer. She said she was ashamed and scared, and that Leekomon told her her parents would get divorced and his wife would lose a restaurant she owned if the girl spoke out.

She eventually told a college friend, then a therapist, in 2013. In 2014, she told her mother, who reported it to police.

During a five-day trial, the victim's mother testified, breaking down on the witness stand and saying she blamed herself because she thought she had protected her daughter. The jury deliberated for about three hours before finding Leekomon guilty on all counts.

After the verdict was read by Superior Court Judge Fred Bishop, jurors exchanged hugs and cried with the young woman and her family.

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