A CHILD’S COURAGE: Ontario girl finds strength to face abuser

Serenity shares her thoughts with a counselor in this recent note. Since the abuse that tore her life apart, she decided, with permission of her family, to speak out and to try to help other children who may be coerced into silence by their abusers. (Contributed)

She was just 9 when she stepped to the witness stand to face the 230-pound man who had abused her.

Circuit Judge Lung Hung assured Serenity Daniels that she was safe in his courtroom.

Hung listened to the youngster describe how Juan “Johnny” Cuellar, 51, abused her three years earlier when she was age 7 – a first-grade student.

When the trial in February was over, Hung found Cuellar guilty of four sex crimes related…

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