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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Midvale girl and her family have asked the parole board to never release the man who attempted to sexually assault her and smashed her in the face with a hammer.
And that was the recommendation of Board of Pardons and Parole hearing officer Kim Allen.
"He presents too great a risk to the community," Allen said. "No amount of therapy will prepare him for release to the street."
The parole hearing at Gunnison Tuesday was the first for Javier Sickler since his sentencing in 2002, and he did not attend, opting to remain in his cell at the Central Utah Correctional Facility.
"He didn't feel he was safe," Allen said, adding that Sickler also was "sorry for what he had done. He didn't want to put the victims through any more trauma by his attendance."
On Aug. 18, 2002, Sickler went to the 11-year-old victim's grandmother's house and told the girl and her brother he was a friend of their father's. Allen said Sickler later returned to the house, took the girl from the bedroom, tried to sexually assault her, dragged her into the back yard and beat her with a hammer.
Responding officers heard noises and saw Sickler crouched over her. Sickler fled but was caught by a police dog.
Just 16 days before the attack on the girl, Sickler attacked and raped a 32-year-old woman walking home from a restaurant.
"Sickler denied committing the offense and, in court, even winked and blew kisses at the victim," Allen said, recounting the crime. "He has now changed his story and admitted that he raped his victim."
The Midvale girl's mother read a letter her daughter, now 14, composed for the hearing.
"I think this man should be in jail for life," the girl wrote. "If he were ever released, I would always be fearful for my safety."
The girl described the painful and often lengthy surgeries she under went to save her life and repair her face.
"I'm blind in my right eye, and I have 40 percent vision in my left eye," the girl wrote. "It affects my ability to draw. I love to draw and paint."
The mother said the entire family is in therapy because of the attack, which still gives her children nightmares.
Sickler was convicted of or pleaded guilty in the two case to rape, forcible sodomy, attempted rape of a child, attempted aggravated murder and child kidnapping and was sentenced to various indeterminate terms ranging up to life. The judges called for the sentenced to be served consecutively, but the time he serves is up to the parole board.
At the hearing, Allen said Sickler also had been linked to several sex crimes he was never charged with. He said Sickler himself had been physically and sexually abused growing up.
"I can't remember a case that bothered me as much as this case," Allen said. "My recommendation is that he serve all his time in prison. He's too great of a risk to the community."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
