A woman who raped a 4-year-old boy at a Queens day care center was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said.
Khemwatie Bedessie, 38, a former teacher's aide at Veda's Learning Center in South Ozone Park, was convicted in June of first-degree rape, six counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of endangering the welfare of a child in a jury trial before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise, who imposed Tuesday's sentence.
Bedessie molested the boy on three occasions from Jan. 4 to Feb. 11, 2006.
"The defendant, by her own admission, took advantage of her position of trust to sexually abuse a four-year-old child," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. "One can only hope that he recovers from the emotional and physical trauma she inflicted upon him. The defendant is a danger to society and her lengthy prison sentence will ensure that other children are protected from such a sexual predator."
Bedessie would separate the boy from the other children during early morning hours and at nap time, then take him into a bathroom where she sexually abused him, prosecutors said. During the trial, jurors watched Bedessie's videotaped confession in which she said she "couldn't help herself," prosecutors said.
