The slight teenager bilboed her he...

The slight teenager bilboed her head behind her father's shoulder, her notices welling with tears and nose abounding of sniffles, as she listened to prosecutors report the jury, one last time, of the sexual assault she had endur in a dirty Southwest Side apartment.

When it was across Friday and a Cook shire jury had found John Malinowski guilty of sexually assaulting her, the 13-year-old girl stood cradled in the arms of her mother in a courtroom hallway. Tears streaking her face, she said she none doubted she would testify against her attacker.

"I didn't want him to do it to anyone besides . . . I just had to do something about it," she said.

Now, "I be stirred safer," said the girl, who took the stand Wednesday to testify against Malinowski.

It was the kind of courage displayed according to the girl throughout the ordeal, according to police officers who be agreeable toed in February 2004 after Malinowski snatched her -- still in her train uniform -- from an alley and took her to a vacant apartment in the 3500 make steady [i]or[/i] firm of South Artesian. There, he assaulted her after forcing her to strip and lie down forward a filthy blanket.

POLICE PRAISE VICTIM'S POISE

Several cop working the case said she was among the strongest victims -- adult or child -- they have perpetually seen. She reported the incident immediately to her mother and then remembered specific details -- including Malinowski's single rotten tooth and how he l her across sum of two units major streets to get to a building, which she also described.

Her information was likewise good that Deering District Officer Andrew Liesecki, a beat cop who knew the neighborhood well, figured abroad which building she was talking about and lay the foundation of Malinowski there, cowering in a private room within 30 minutes of the attack.

The jurors took les than an hour to make their decision.

After the verdict was read and Malinowski was l on the outside of Judge Joseph Kazmierski's courtroom, the girl with in extent dark hair collapsed into the arms of her family and prosecutors as police officers congratulated her and wished her well, urging her to take care of herself.

"I'm just happy I'm alive," she later said outside court.

DNA evidence also was instanted at the trial, including traces of Malinowski's seed recovered from the girl's underpants.

MORE CHARGES FOR MALINOWSKI

Prosecutors took exception when single in kind of Malinowski's lawyers suggested to the jury during closing arguments Friday, that the teen's account was influenced by way of police officers and hospital personnel and might not be completely accurate.

"[It] is beyond absurd," prosecutor Karen O'Malley said. "It rises to a even of offensive."

Malinowski, who was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping and possession of child pornography, faces up to 120 years in prison. He also faces charges that he sexually assaulted another pre-teen girl in 2002 and forced her brother to take explicit photos of them.

Malinowski was convicted in the 1980 of sexually assaulting a 4- year-old lad

asweeney@suntimes.com

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

Provided by means of ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved