Wednesday, a Circuit Court judge sentenced a former Henry County man to two life sentences after he kept a 13-year-old girl in a dog cage.
44-year-old Anthony Shamel Hopkins was found guilty of raping and sodomizing the girl multiple times in 2002. Hopkins was also sentenced to 50 years for distributing a controlled substance to that minor. During the trial in November 2018, the jury also recommended the maximum fine possible which is $100,000.
According to a witness, Hopkins would lock the girl in the cage naked or nearly naked for days and not provide her with water or nourishment. Hopkins would not allow the 13-year-old girl to go out of the cage for any reason, including to go to the bathroom. The girl was later released by someone else.
The female, now 29-years-old, testified in November that before meeting Hopkins she had used cocaine and exchanged sex for drugs. She became a prostitute for Hopkins later and said she was under his control. When she got away from him, he would bring her back and threat her, she said.
The 29-years-old female also described being gang-raped by Hopkins and others.
She testified that she endured physical, a ear and jaw injury, and mental injuries as a result of Hopkins’ abuse and to this day, has lingering effects. She received physical injuries when Hopkins hit her with a pistol. When Hopkins would sexually attack her, he injected drugs into her foot to temporarily paralyze her. She now has nerve damage in legs due to those injections.
She said she has panic attacks, nightmares and lives in constant fear. She suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, is on medication and is under professional care.