Hewitt must pay $1.2m in Mass. sex abuse case

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/10/01/tennis-star-hewitt-ordered-pay-mass-woman-million-rape-case/RDEXJvUzi5KFsCcgVwlBhP/story.html



Retired tennis player Bob Hewitt, pictured earlier this year.

Hewitt must pay $1.2m in Mass. sex abuse case
By Bob Hohler Globe Staff October 02, 2015

Disgraced tennis great and convicted child molester Bob Hewitt has been ordered to pay $1.2 million to Heather Crowe Conner, a Massachusetts woman he is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing in the 1970s while she was an elite high school tennis player and he was her coach.

US District Judge Denise J. Casper, in the first use of a broader Massachusetts statute of limitations law enacted last year, gave Hewitt until Nov. 2 to show why he should not pay the default judgment. Hewitt, 75, currently is confined to his home in South Africa as he appeals a six-year prison sentence for raping two South African girls and indecently assaulting another he coached in the 1980s and ’90s.

“The damage and loss he inflicted on me isn’t about money,’’ said Conner, of West Newbury. “But I’m thankful the judge recognized the harm and is holding him responsible.’’

Casper said the assaults began in 1975 when Conner was 14 and lasted until about 1979. Casper ordered Hewitt to pay Conner $1 million for her emotional distress and $200,000 for her past and future mental health care.