Leland man sentenced to 144 years for raping teen girls

LELAND, NC (WWAY) — A Leland man will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars for repeatedly raping and assaulting two teenage girls.

Today a jury found Denzel Jamal Hill, 25, guilty on 70 of 71 charges. They include 33 counts of statutory rape, 17 counts of indecent liberties with a child, 11 counts of felony assault, two counts of kidnapping and forcible sex offense and one count of statutory sex offense.

Hill assaulted the two victims over a period of four years. He dated one victim from 2011 to 2012 and the other from 2013 to 2014.

The victims testified that the relationship turned violent very quickly, and the paralyzing fear of Hill kept them from leaving the relationship.

Each victim told the jury the assaults became more harsh and more frequent later in the relationship, showing the jury scars from beatings they endured. The victims each knew Hill had guns. Hill had threatened each of them with those weapons if they spoke about the violence, reported his actions, or left him.

After the jury returned the verdict, Judge Greg Bell sentenced Hill to 144 to 166 years in prison. The judge also ordered a permanent protective order be put in place, prohibiting Hill from contacting either victim for the rest of their lives.

The victims addressed the court during victim impact statements.

One victim told the Court, “All those times he was beating me, I was begging him to stop and he never did.”

The other victim shared with the Court how this had changed her life forever and how the defendant had stolen her ability to lead a normal life.

“I’ve never seen a defendant more deserving of a life sentence,” Assistant District Attorney Jamie Darroch said. “This is not an isolated incident. The defendant has demonstrated a pattern of evil behavior for four to five years. He’s shown this community he will re-offend and do this to someone else because he already has.”

She added, “This was a case of unthinkable violence that most of us couldn’t imagine in our darkest nightmares, but it’s also a story of survival – a story of two young women who found their voices after being silenced by the defendant for years. These young ladies found the courage to face the defendant and relive the worst days of their lives. They asked the jury to find the courage to hold the defendant accountable and that’s exactly what the jury did.”