A Savannah man on Friday evening was convicted on two child molestation charges in 2009-2010 sexual assaults on a 9-year-old girl.
Shawn O’Rourke, 40, was convicted by a Chatham County Superior Court jury of molesting the victim on June 25, 2010, and a separate count of molesting the same victim between Dec. 1, 2009, and June 25, 2010.
The jury of eight women and four men acquitted O’Rourke on a charge of aggravated child molestation of the victim during the same period.
Judge Timothy R. Walmsley, who heard three days of testimony, will sentence O’Rourke on an undetermined date in January.
The defendant will remain in the Chatham County jail.
The attacks contained in the indictment charged that O’Rourke performed “an immoral and indecent act” on the victim on June 25, 2010. The indictment also charged that between Dec. 1, 2009, and June 25, 2010, he also performed an immoral and indecent act on the victim.
Assistant District Attorney Emily Puhala told jurors that O’Rourke was a pedophile and said her evidence proved it. She said the June 25 attack was not the first such incident but the last.
Assistant Public Defender John Rodman told jurors his client was the victim of “false allegations and misconstrued facts” by agents of the state.
O’Rourke, who denied the allegations, did not testify as Rodman elected to let the defendant’s statements to police speak for him.