NEWS SOURCE

Early Friday evening, a Covington County jury found Perry Demon Parrish, 54, of Andalusia guilty of seven (7) counts of Sodomy in the First Degree, four (4) counts of Sexual Abuse of a Child Under the Age of 12, and six (6) counts of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree.  After a two day trial, the jury took less than 45 minutes to return its verdict. 

According to Covington County District Attorney Greg Gambril, who prosecuted the case for the State, Parrish’s conviction brings an end to a series of crimes that began in 2001 when Parrish first began abusing the 6 year old daughter of a woman whom he was dating.  “Perry Parrish embodies every aspect of what a child sex predator is.  He was able to manipulate his way into this little girl’s mother’s life until he had the opportunity to start abusing this child,” Gambril said.  “The victim’s natural father was abusive to her mother and was no longer living in the home when Mr. Parrish came along.  It wasn’t much longer that her father died.  Mr. Parrish managed to trick everyone into thinking he could fill that void in this family.  It didn’t take long before he began to abuse this child.”

Gambril said that Parrish preyed upon this child over a 6-7 year period.  “He was at her every opportunity that he had, even if the window of opportunity was open for only 10 minutes.  He’d just come back later,” Gambril said.  “As we see so often in cases like this, the child did not tell what was happening to her because of threats that he made to her.  The one that seemed to have the most impact on the child was when Mr. Parrish said that he would get in trouble and that he would be sent away if she told anyone.  After seeing her natural father sent away and then having him die at such an early age, this little 6 year old didn’t know what to do.  So she put up with this abuse year after year after year after year.”

Gambril said that each charge that Parrish was convicted of encompasses all of that certain type of sex crime that occurred during each respective year in the victim’s life.  “He did this so often, it was impossible for the child to pick out specific instances or give us a precise time line of what happened where, when, etc.  She finally revealed what was happening when she was 12, but was only able to say what he did to her and that it happened every year, multiple times a week, in various locations around Andalusia, including two houses that she lived in over the years, his house, and two work sheds that he rented, amongst other places.”

“This child and her mother have been through some extremely tough times and I hope that the community will keep them in their prayers,” Gambril added.  “The victim is a very brave and strong girl, but still has a lot of challenges ahead of her.”

Gambril said that Parrish was convicted in 1984 of a child sex offense and had been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, but that his conviction had been reversed on a technicality by a federal court after he had served 10 years in prison.  After being released in 1993, the charges were reinstated, he was convicted of a lesser sexual offense and he was given credit for time served.

Because of two other felony convictions, Parrish is now facing a minimum sentence of life imprisonment on each of the Sodomy I charges and the Sexual Abuse of a Child Under the Age of 12 charges.  For some of these crimes, he will not be eligible for parole.  He will be sentenced by Circuit Judge Ashley McKathan on April 7, 2010.  Parrish is currently being held without bond.