Aunt Involved in Sexual Abuse of Niece to Serve 50 Years

SANTA ANA, Calif. – An Orange County woman has been given 50 years in prison for committing videotaped sexual assaults on her 4-year-old niece.

Twenty-eight-year-old Sheila Sikat was sentenced Thursday. She was convicted last December of 55 charges, including using a minor for a sex act. Judge Gary Paer told the courtroom that "society deserves zero tolerance in these types of offenses."

Prosecutors said the Rancho Santa Margarita woman helped her boyfriend, David Hwang, videotape some four hours of assaults on her niece in 2001.

Hwang pleaded guilty in 2006 to 60 counts of child molestation and is serving 50 years to life. He claimed he drugged Sikat into helping him.

At a hearing two weeks ago, the child's mother said the girl, now 10 years old, is doing well and doesn't remember the attacks. She also asked the court for leniency for her sister.

But the defendant said she deserved prison for failing to protect the child.