Sports doctor given 175-year prison term for sex abuse
A FORMER sports doctor who admitted molesting top US gymnasts for years has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison by a judge who proudly told him: “I just signed your death warrant.”
The sentence capped a remarkable seven-day hearing in which scores of Larry Nassar’s victims were able to confront him face to face in a Michigan courtroom.
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said Nassar’s “decision to assault was precise, calculated, manipulative, devious, despicable”.
“It is my honour and privilege to sentence you. You do not deserve to walk outside a prison ever again. You have done nothing to control those urges and anywhere you walk, destruction will occur to those most vulnerable,” Judge Aquilina said.
When the hearing ended, the courtroom broke into applause.
A prosecutor said Nassar found competitive gymnastics to be a “perfect place” for his crimes because victims saw him as a “god” in the sport.
“It takes some kind of sick perversion to not only assault a child but to do so with her parent in the room,” prosecutor Angela Povilaitis said.
Nassar (left) turned to the courtroom gallery to make a brief statement, saying that the accounts of more than 150 victims had “shaken me to my core”. He said “no words” can describe how sorry he is for his crimes.