For three hours last Friday, the 11-year-old girl sat between her mother and father in the first row of courtroom 4E in Fairfax County Circuit Court, waiting for her former tutor to be sentenced for sexually assaulting her.
It wasn’t easy for her and it wasn’t pleasant but, when his case was finally called, her patience was rewarded. And when Rodney Bower left the courtroom, it was in handcuffs — on his way to serve five years in prison.
First, though, the victim — a student at Gunston Elementary, where Bower taught — took the witness stand and told the court how his actions had affected her. "Every day, I wonder if my life will ever be the same, because I was hurt so badly," she said. "I wonder if I will be OK."
The incident occurred sometime between Feb. 1-14, and police were called March 20 to begin investigating. The girl told them Bower, 54, of 2429 Temple Court in Alexandria, touched her inappropriately in her home, while tutoring her.
Bower taught in Fairfax County Public Schools since 2000 and had been at Gunston since 2005. He taught fifth grade and accelerated math but, after his March 23 arrest, he was placed on unpaid leave.
Charged with aggravated sexual battery, he pleaded guilty July 16 in Circuit Court, returning Oct. 2 for sentencing. The only one to testify that day, the victim told Judge Gaylord Finch she’d been receiving weekly therapy for five months and it will continue. And when Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Greg Holt asked her if she wanted Bower to go to jail as punishment for what he did to her, she said she did.
"He was your teacher and you were very close to him?" asked defense attorney Bill Hicks. "Yes," replied the child. "You’d been alone with him a number of times when he never touched you?" asked Hicks. Again, she answered yes.
"It didn’t ruin your life? You had a good summer?" asked Hicks. "Yes," she replied.
But Holt didn’t let Hicks’s assumptions go unanswered. "Children are resilient, but no one knows how it’ll affect her [in the long run]," said the prosecutor. "It runs deep; this event will always be inside [the victim]. Her inability to trust adults, especially men, will stay with her."
Clearly, said Holt, Bower was a man in a position of trust — a school teacher who violated that status by what he did to the girl. He said it affected her whole family and altered their lives. For example, said Holt, the child’s older sister must now protect her.
"But for this man’s actions, she’d have a normal life," said Holt. "Now, she avoids the room where this happened and she’s got to go to therapy." Holt then asked Finch to give Bower a sentence reflecting the seriousness of the crime.
Hicks said a psychiatrist who’d examined his client concluded that "he doesn’t present an increased risk of sexual violence and has no history of it." Hicks said the doctor called the girl’s sexual assault a "situational offense," rather than one due to a sexual disorder on Bower’s part.
"There’s already been significant punishment imposed on this gentlemen," said Hicks. "He’s lost his reputation, and his friends among teachers and parents. He’s lost his job; he loved teaching and was a good teacher. He’ll have to register as a sex offender, and it’ll be a huge mark of Cain on him until the day he dies."
Hicks said Bower’s "aged considerably" since his arrest and has many ailments. Requesting a suspended prison sentence, plus probation, Hicks said sending Bower to prison would serve no purpose. Furthermore, he told Finch, "It’s dangerous for a man with a charge like this to be sent to prison. He’s not a big man — he can’t defend himself — so you may well be sentencing him to death."
Bower then stood and told the victim and her family how sorry he was. "I’ve never done anything like this before in my life," he said. "I’m ashamed of myself and I sincerely regret it. I also apologize to my wife; she’s been beside me, all the time."
But the judge had the last word, sentencing Bower to 10 years in prison, suspending five years, and placing him on five years probation upon his release. Finch also ordered him to receive sex-offender treatment, undergo polygraph tests and register as a sex offender.
"You are to have no contact with the victim or any other minors," he added. "And you must relinquish any guardianship you may have over any minors."