ADA: Child raped as relative watched

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - An uncle of missing mother Brittney Wood appeared before a Mobile County judge Monday, Oct. 22 for a preliminary hearing.

In addition to sex abuse charges in Baldwin County , Dustin Alton Kent also faces separate rape and sodomy charges in Mobile, where investigators testified he raped a family member back in 2008.

“It has turned out that several incidents involving key players in Baldwin County, also took place in Mobile,” said Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson.

Patterson said investigators testified in court that Kent raped a minor while his brother-in-law Donald Holland, Sr. watched. 

 Holland, Sr. was the last person seen with  Wood back in May. Authorities confirm he shot himself with Wood's gun a few days after she went missing.

Authorities testified that Holland, Sr.  picked up the female victim, who was 14-years-old at the time, and promised to take her to the pet store to buy a hamster.

They said Holland, Sr. stopped to pickup Kent and proceeded to drive to an empty industrial park, where the sex abuse occurred.

“His role in this was to observe the sex acts between the child and the defendant,” said Patterson.

 Photos: Baldwin Co. sex crimes investigation

Investigators said the teen begged for her uncle to stop.

After the abuse, Patterson said Holland, Sr. drove the child to buy a hamster as he promised.

Patterson said the child only came forward with these allegations after several other family members in Baldwin County said they too had been sexually abused.

Meanwhile, Wood remains a fixture as the family sex abuse case continues to evolve.

Patterson, however, said Wood’s disappearance does not play a role in her investigation.

“It's hard to overlook the fact that she's gone, but it is not a legal factor in my cases,” she said.

Kent’s Mobile case was bound over to a grand jury which will likely pick it back up sometime in December.