“The only life that’s been eviscerated here is mine.”

The comment from convicted rapist Oscar Higueros Jr. drew audible gasps from the audience in the SLO County Superior courtroom during an Aug. 4 sentencing hearing.

Higueros, a former Cayucos volunteer firefighter, addressed the court shortly before he was sentenced to 167 years and eight months in prison, plus another 15 years to life, on a laundry list of crimes, including forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, forcible sodomy, and forcing a minor to engage in sex acts for commercial purposes. During the trial, Higueros’ female victim testified that he answered a Craigslist ad placed by another man, Richard Scott Brooks, and paid $150 to have sex with her. During their time together, the woman, then a minor, said the two had sex multiple times, with Higueros giving her drugs and recording the sex acts. Brooks was also tried, convicted, and sentenced to 61 years-to-life in a separate trial.

In a letter to the court, the victim described Higueros as a narcissistic, sociopathic, sadist.

“[Higueros] enjoys making other people suffer,” the letter read.

Prosecutor Greg Devitt made a similar assessment, lobbying SLO Superior Court Judge Jacquelyn Duffy to hand down the harshest sentence possible.

“He should be locked up for the rest of his life,” he said.

Higueros vehemently denied committing any of the sexual crimes he’d been convicted of, calling his prosecution “malicious” and accusing the jury of being “uneducated.”

“At no point has this trial been fair or impartial,” he said.

Duffy didn’t appear to accept Higueros’ arguments and said she wondered if he “was present at the same trial as we were.”

“This court would be hard pressed to find a person more callous than you, Mr. Higueros,” Duffy said.