Teenager forced to pay $150,000 to family of rapist that she killed

A teenage girl who killed her alleged rapist has been ordered to pay $150,000 (£130,350) to his family.

When Pieper Lewis was 15 years old she fatally stabbed Zachary Brooks more than 30 times in a flat in Des Moines.

Lewis claims that Brooks, 37, had raped her multiple times.

Now aged 17, she has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and wilful injury. 

She has been ordered to pay the fine while being on five years of probation. Lewis will be placed in a residential facility and will be forced to wear a tracking device.

Polk County District judge David M Porter said: "The next five years of your life will be full of rules you disagree with, I'm sure of it.

"This is the second chance that you've asked for. You don't get a third."

Following the charges, Lewis said in a statement: "My spirit has been burned, but still glows through the flames.

"Hear me roar, see me glow, and watch me grow. I am a survivor."

She added: "I took a person's life. My intentions that day were not to just to go out and take somebody's life.

"In my mind I felt that I wasn't safe and I felt that I was in danger, which resulted in the acts.

"But it doesn't take away from the fact that a crime was committed."

A GoFundMe account set up by Lewis' teacher, Leland Schipper, has already raised $222,000 of its $200,000 goal to pay off Brooks' family.

Schipper wrote: "Pieper has five years of probation ahead of her; five years that she will be required to be nearly perfect to avoid facing 20 years in prison. She will do hundreds of hours of community service each year.

"She will be subject to drug testing, required to take classes, and attend therapy. Pieper’s path to true freedom will not be easy, and she is still a teenager that has experienced a lot of trauma.

"Pieper wants to go to college, she wants to create art, and she wants to advocate for other girls who find themselves in situations like she endured. She does not deserve a massive debt looming over her, holding her back from pursuing her ambitions.

"Our system if broken. It will take decades of advocacy and electing people committed to rethinking and reimagining our criminal justice system, especially our juvenile one, to fix the system."