WAILUKU — A 10-year prison term was ordered Thursday for a man who apologized for sexually molesting a child and keeping it a secret for years.

“What I did was wrong,” Devin Deuter said in court. “I want to apologize to her. I was selfish, and I can’t take it back. I didn’t think about her feelings, and now I realize the outcome of her pain and suffering.”

Deuter, 35, had pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of second-degree sexual assault of the girl from January 2005 to December 2007, starting when she was 6 years old.

“Not only was she vulnerable because of her age but because of the situation she was in,” said Deputy Prosecutor Kristin Coccaro. “This situation is a divorced parent’s worst nightmare.”

The girl’s mother had trusted Deuter to take care of the child while the mother was working in Lahaina, she said. Instead, Deuter sexually molested the girl on numerous occasions, Coccaro said.

“He took advantage of a trusted position and did the worst thing imaginable,” she said.

After waiving extradition and returning to Maui from Alaska to face charges last year, Deuter had been working and participating in sex offender treatment, said his attorney, Cary Virtue. Deuter had stopped drinking alcohol, which played a part in the case, he said.

“He’s been going to therapy for months and months and months,” Virtue said, arguing that Deuter be given a chance on probation. “He’s this person that never wants to walk down that road again.

“Given the sincere efforts Devin’s made to really improve and change his life, I think he falls in a different category. Every single day, he’s got to work on his issues.”

While acknowledging Deuter’s efforts, Coccaro said, “Nothing can take away the memories and the harm caused to this very innocent child.”

Now, the girl is a teenager living on the Mainland. “She is not done healing from this,” Coccaro said. “I’m not sure she ever will.”

In sentencing Deuter, 2nd Circuit Judge Peter Cahill said he didn’t often see letters like the one the defendant wrote to the court acknowledging his crimes.

Cahill said he believed Deuter had learned his lesson.

But the prison term was warranted because of the nature of the crimes, the judge said.

“This is not to diminish other crimes,” Cahill said. “But these types of crimes committed against such a vulnerable person over an extended period of time has a consequence to you, Mr. Deuter, the victim and all the rest of society in general, that far exceeds the event that actually took place.”

Cahill said he hoped that the Hawaii Paroling Authority, which will determine how much time Deuter spends in prison, would consider the defendant’s acknowledgment of his wrongdoing and the efforts he had made since then.

The judge read a portion of Deuter’s letter that said: “When I molested (the girl), I knew it was wrong. I kept it a secret for seven years. And that was wrong.”

“But the secret is out, and it’s no longer a secret and you acknowledged it,” Cahill said. “Frankly, you’re going to live with the sigma of this offense for the rest of your life.”

In exchange for Deuter’s plea, eight other sexual assault counts were dismissed.

As part of his sentence, Deuter was ordered to participate in sex offender treatment.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@maui news.com.