About a decade after he was first charged, a DeKalb man was sentenced by a judge Thursday to almost 100 years in prison for repeatedly sexually assaulting a child.

Jeremy M. Westbrook, 50, must serve 85% of his 96-year sentence handed down by Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick. Prosecutors said he sexually assaulted a child repeatedly between April 2012 and March 2015, DeKalb County court records show.

In an emotional statement, the victim’s grandmother said the victim still suffers, and “lives in constant terror.” The grandmother said her granddaughter gave her permission to speak on her behalf.

Shaw Local News Network is not identifying the grandmother, since doing so risks identifying the victim.

“You were trusted with our little girl, to protect a child,” the grandmother said, weeping. “And you were a monster.

The grandmother said that when her granddaughter testified about her ordeal during a February bench trial, she was retraumatized, her mental and physical health declining.

“Jeremy, I hope you go away for a long time and never get out,” the grandmother said, looking directly at him. “The kind side of me hopes you find the Lord and ask for forgiveness for what you have done. As for me, I’ve never been able to forgive you.”

Westbrook appeared to return her gaze. He didn’t show any visible reaction to his sentence. He declined to speak at the hearing, but appeared responsive to the judge.

“Yes, I understand fully, ma’am,” Westbrook said when Buick asked if he followed the proceedings.

It’s been more than 10 years since Westbrook was charged on March 14, 2015, with 36 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, records show.

His case has exchanged hands multiple times among different judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys. He’s spent time in and out of custody at the DeKalb County Jail. When he wasn’t in jail, he was at various behavioral health facilities in the custody of the state, ordered to oversee his mental rehabilitation. He’s been treated for paranoia, mania, and psychosis, among other illnesses, Public Defender Chip Criswell said.

Westbrook’s been found unfit to stand trial three times in the past 10 years, court records show.

His mental fitness was central to his defense’s argument in court.

But Buick said in the time that she’s presided over Westbrook’s case – which she inherited from now-retired Judge Robbin Stuckert in October 2021, records show – she’s observed his mental fitness to be sound.

“Jeremy Westbrook has always been very calm, very quiet,” Buick said. “He appears to listen very carefully, and when he needs to speak, he speaks thoughtfully and appropriately. And this court has not observed any behavior, at least that would raise issues regarding his fitness.”

Westbrook got the minimum sentence he faced – 6 years for each of the 16 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault he was convicted of on March 11, records show. He faced up to 960 years, or 60 per count.

Criswell argued that for 50-year-old Westbrook, 96 years served at 85% – a little more than 81 years – is “effectively a life sentence.”

But the judge’s ruling was lighter than what lead prosecutor Scott Schwertley and the victim’s family asked for Thursday. Schwertley asked for 20 years on each count, 320 years total.

“The court saw [the victim] as she was testifying, the trauma that this defendant has, through his actions, caused her and will continue to cause her for the rest of her life,” Schwertley said. “What he did is a life sentence to her.”

The victim’s grandmother implored Buick to hand down the maximum sentence, saying to the judge, “We could not protect her, but you can.”

Still, DeKalb County State’s Attorney Riley Oncken said in a statement to Shaw Local that he believes Westbrook’s sentence sends an important message.

“Although the Defendant was only sentenced to the minimum of six years in prison for each of the sixteen counts, the length of the sentence ensures that the Defendant will never have the opportunity to hurt another child,” Oncken said. “I hope that sentences like this are a deterrent to other predators in our communities. Eventually, you will get caught. No child should have to endure abuse and my office will continue to seek justice for survivors of abuse and lengthy sentences for those who prey on children.”