Norristown man sent to prison for child sex abuse
NORRISTOWN >> A Norristown man continued to profess his innocence after a judge sent him to prison for more than two decades for sexually assaulting an underage boy on multiple occasions, including one after he broke into the boy’s borough residence through a window.
“Wait for my appeal,” Kyree Royster, 24, said as sheriff’s deputies escorted him from a Montgomery County courtroom on Friday to begin serving a 21-to-42-year prison term in connection with three incidents with an underage boy that occurred between December 2016 and January 2017 in Norristown and Philadelphia.
The sentence was imposed by Judge Thomas C. Branca.
“I do think that the defendant poses an above average risk of re-offending. A long term state incarceration is needed to protect the public,” Branca said after reading various pre-sentence reports about Royster.
The judge imposed consecutive sentences for each of the three assaults to reach the total term of confinement.
“I do believe these are three separate incidences that require consecutive sentences,” Branca explained.
After a four-day trial in June, a jury convicted Royster, of the 100 block of Selma Street, of charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, corruption of a minor, indecent assault and burglary, determining Royster sexually abused the child by having sexual contact with him on three occasions, twice in Philadelphia and once in Norristown.
The assaults occurred while the boy was in Royster’s company at locations in Philadelphia and Norristown, according to testimony. Royster knew the boy’s family.
The victim was between the ages of 13 and 14 at the time of the assaults while Royster was 22 years old, according to testimony.
Assistant District Attorney Lauren Marvel sought a lengthy prison term against Royster.
“On the last occasion, the defendant climbed through the victim’s bedroom window in Norristown to sexually assault him. That is extreme predatory behavior. Walls and stories of a house could not keep this defendant away from this child,” Marvel argued.
The Philadelphia incidents were combined for prosecution with the Norristown crime and Montgomery County prosecutors handled the cases at one trial.
“He proved to everyone that he is an absolute risk to society and needed to be sentenced for as long as possible,” Marvel said.
Royster did not testify during the trial and did not address the judge before learning his fate.
Defense lawyer Matthew Quigg, who at trial suggested the incidents didn’t occur and that the victim fabricated the allegations, argued for leniency on behalf of Royster, pointing out Royster had a dysfunctional childhood and also was the victim of sexual abuse as a child.
“That is going to damage someone,” Quigg argued. “He is not a monster. He is not damaged beyond repair.”
Marvel acknowledged
that Royster experienced trauma as a child but added, “That does not outweigh what he has done.”
Quigg said Royster maintains his innocence and will appeal the conviction.
“Through this entire process he has maintained his innocence and looks forward to the opportunity to file an appeal. This is a case where there was no DNA evidence, no corroborative evidence,” Quigg added. “We have the victim’s word and ultimately the jury convicted on that and we respect the jury’s decision but Mr. Royster feels that the jury got this one wrong.”
The investigation began in January 2017, when the victim’s mother reported to Norristown police that her son revealed he had been sexually assaulted by Royster about 3 a.m. Jan. 23, 2017, after Royster climbed through a window of an Oak Street residence while the victim was sleeping.
The boy subsequently told authorities he awoke to find Royster sexually abusing him, according to the criminal complaint filed by former Norristown Detective Kathleen Kelly, who is now a county detective. The boy told detectives he ordered Royster to leave the house but Royster refused, according to the arrest affidavit.
After the assault, Royster “put his clothes on and climbed out the bedroom window,” Kelly alleged in the criminal complaint. The victim then awakened his mother to tell her what had happened.
During the investigation, the boy revealed that Royster sexually assaulted him on two other occasions while he was in Royster’s company at a Philadelphia residence in December 2016, according to authorities.