GUNNISON — Sharon Zahne sobbed as the hearing officer described, in graphic detail, the crimes that Javier Sickler committed against her young daughter.
Up for his first parole hearing since being sentenced for sexually assaulting the 11-year-old Midvale girl and smashing her face with a hammer, Sickler refused to come out of his cell at the Central Utah Correctional Facility.
"He didn't feel he was safe," Board of Pardons and Parole hearing officer Kim Allen said Tuesday. "He is sorry for what he had done. He didn't want to put the victims through any more trauma by his attendance."
Allen said Sickler is "well aware" of the outrage surrounding the crime by the community and the victim's family.
"He made the decision not to attend, and that's his right," he said.
On the front row of the hearing room inside the Gunnison prison, the girl's family gathered with friends and supporters to urge the Board of Pardons and Parole to keep Sickler locked up. Zahne read a letter her daughter composed for the hearing.
"I think this man should be in jail for life," wrote the girl, who is now 14. "If he were ever released I would always be fearful for my safety."
In her letter, the girl described the painful and often lengthy surgeries she has undergone to repair her shattered face. One was to save her life, another was to allow her to breathe on her own again. Zahne said her daughter's hair won't grow back in some places, and she can't wear hairstyles that typical teenage girls want to wear.
"I'm blind in my right eye, and I have 40 percent vision in my left eye," the girl wrote. "It affects my ability to draw. I love to draw and paint."
Zahne said the entire family is in therapy because of the attack, which still gives her children nightmares.
On Aug. 18, 2002, Javier Sickler went to the victim's grandmother's house. He told the girl and her brother he was a friend of their father's. Reading from the criminal history, Allen recounted how Sickler came back to the house later that night and took the girl from the bedroom. He tried to sexually assault her, dragged her into the back yard and beat her with a hammer.
Responding officers heard noises and saw Sickler crouched over her. Sickler fled but was apprehended by a police dog.
Just 16 days before the attack on the girl, the Board of Pardons and Parole recounted how Sickler followed a 32-year-old woman walking home from a restaurant. He jumped out from behind a tree, punched her, dragged her into a wooded area and raped her. The victim identified Sickler after seeing his face on television after the attack on the girl.
"Sickler denied committing the offense and, in court, even winked and blew kisses at the victim," Allen said, recounting the crime. "He has now changed his story and admitted that he raped his victim."
Allen said the Board of Pardons and Parole was unable to contact the 32-year-old victim of the 2002 rape and beating for a statement for Tuesday's hearing.
Sickler was convicted of rape, forcible sodomy, attempted rape of a child, attempted aggravated murder and child kidnapping. He was ordered to serve all of his sentences consecutively, some of which are up to life in prison.
At the hearing, Allen said Sickler had also been linked to several sex crimes he was never charged with. He said Sickler himself had been physically and sexually abused growing up.
"I can't remember a case that bothered me as much as this case," Allen said. "My recommendation is that he serve all his time in prison. He's too great of a risk to the community."
Sharon Zahne said her daughter continues to recover from the horrific attack. "She's doing really well. She's 14 now, trying to be the normal teenager she is," Zahne said. "I'm very proud of her. This is part of the healing process."
Zahne said her daughter will need more reconstructive surgeries on her face as she grows into adulthood. She said Sickler should pay for his crimes by spending the rest of his life in prison.
"It's a small price to pay," she said. "My daughter will never feel safe."
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com