Slidell man sentence to two years for rape

Moments after apologizing to his 17-year-old rape victim Monday, a 28-year-old Slidell man pleaded guilty to the attack that included hitting her on the head with a tree branch.

Damien McDaniels faced between five and 40 years for the forcible rape of the Michigan girl outside a Slidell area trailer park home on Aug. 12, 2007. But state district court Judge Peter Garcia handed down the mid-level sentence, with two years to serve without the possibility of probation, parole of suspension of sentence.

The victim, present during the sentencing, agreed to the punishment, Rick Wood, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office, said.

The rape occurred when the victim was in Slidell visiting friends. They eventually went to the trailer park home where McDaniels was also visiting friends.

Later, in the early morning hours, the victim’s friend had fallen asleep inside the trailer and McDaniels’ friends had left, Wood said.

With just McDaniels and the victim outside he started making advances. She said no, Wood said, but he continued the attack.

“One thing led to another, and he forced himself on her,” Wood said.

Sometime during the ordeal he whacked the girl in the head with a tree branch, a criteria for forcible rape that under state law is characterized by physical violence or the threat thereof.

“She had a bump on her head that she showed police,” evidence of the attack, Wood said.

The victim eventually fought McDaniels off, and he fled. She then woke her friends, and they took her to Slidell Memorial Hospital, Wood said.

Authorities were called and an investigation launched. The victim was later shown a photo lineup and identified McDaniels as her attacker.

McDaniels’ photo was in the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office criminal database because of past criminal history that includes a guilty plea in September 2008 for a simple escape from jail in 2005. McDaniels was on a special privilege work-release type program when he left and never returned, Wood said.

In January 2008, McDaniels also pleaded guilty to domestic abuse battery stemming from a 2004 arrest, Wood said. Details of that charge were not immediately available.

McDaniels was arrested for the forcible rape charge in Brookhaven Miss., where he fled, Wood said.