Southbridge Man Sentenced To 20 Years For Child Rape

WORCESTER, MA—A Northbridge man was sentenced to 20 years in state prison after a Worcester Superior Court found him guilty of child rape aggravated by age difference, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

Daniel Joyce was also sentenced to five years of probation with conditions that he register as a sex offender, stay away and have no contact with the victim and not have any unsupervised contact with children under 16.

The jury found Joyce guilty on March 2 of aggravated child rape, three counts of child rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery of a child under 14.

The victim testified during the trial that the abuse started when she was 6 years old and continued for several years.

“This was an egregious case of continued abuse against a child,” Early said in a statement. “I want to thank the jury for their hard work in reaching the verdict, the victim for showing such courage in testifying about the horrors she endured and Northbridge Police for their thorough investigation. Our prosecutors, Lina V. Pashou and Tara L. Nechev, did a terrific job in presenting the case.”

Photo via Shutterstock