A Riverside County judge has sentenced a man to nearly 53 years in prison for 18 felony counts of physical and sexual abuse and threats made to three children over a period of several years in multiple Southern California counties.
On February 19, jurors found 50-year-old Mazen Aliwi Alawi guilty of one count of lewd acts upon a child under 14, nine counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 by force, three counts of criminal threats, one count of witness intimidation, one count of assault with a deadly weapon, and three counts of child abuse.
According to evidence presented at trial, the children arrived in the United States in 2016 when they were between nine and 10 years old. The victims did not speak English and only had the defendant to care for their needs after fleeing a war-torn country. Their mother was left behind after Alawi promised to bring her to the United States, but never did.
According to prosecutors, beginning the day the children arrived, the defendant repeatedly sexually abused one victim over the next three years while also physically abusing all three children. The abuse was reported in May 2019 after one of the children reported it to a school staff member, prompting a response from law enforcement.
The evidence showed the defendant used violence and threats to maintain control, including threatening to kill the children, threatening to send them back to a war zone, and instructing them to lie to authorities. The children were struck with household objects, punched, kicked, and otherwise assaulted. In one incident, the defendant threatened one child with a knife.
On April 17, Alawi was sentenced to 52 years and eight months in state prison.
