A Burlington man who jumped bail and fled Vermont the night before a jury found him guilty of aggravated sexual assault on a 9-year-old girl was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years to life in prison for the assault. 

Ali Abdi, a Somali Bantu refugee, was sentenced by Vermont District Judge Patricia Zimmerman.

Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan said the sentence responded to a “horrific crime” against a girl who has “really been ostracized from her community.” The conviction is a deportable offense, Donovan said, but his understanding is that Abdi will likely serve his sentence in a U.S. prison before the federal government brings any deportation action.

Abdi has been in custody since mid-February 2009, when he was captured after two weeks on the run. Authorities traced him to Ann Arbor, Mich., and returned him to Vermont. It’s unclear where Abdi, who is 38 according to Vermont Corrections Department records, will serve out his sentence.