A girl who was molested aboard a Hawaiian Airlines flight when she was 9 years old said the incident changed her life forever.

"If I was never molested, I would be a completely different person, a happy person," she said.

Instead, she said she feels like trash.

The girl, now 16, said the experience crushed her pride, destroyed her happiness and is the cause of nightmares.

She said it wasn’t until she attended sex education classes at age 12 did she realize what happened to her. She said she has since attempted suicide by cutting her wrists, is anorexic and bulimic, and doesn’t care if she dies.

The girl made those comments in federal court yesterday during the sentencing hearing for her admitted molester, Curtis Keith Cooper.

U.S. District Judge Alan Kay sentenced Cooper to 97 months in prison, fined him $15,000 and ordered him to pay the girl’s parents $3,098 in restitution.

"At age 67, for you to commit this act is deplorable," Kay said.

Cooper, now 74, apologized to the girl in court and asked for her forgiveness. He says his own rape when he was 6 or 7 years old contributed to his behavior.

The girl told Cooper: "What you did was wrong. I am going to fight for the happiness I deserve."

The molestation happened aboard a flight from Honolulu to San Francisco on July 12, 2003.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Cooper with the crime last November.

He pleaded guilty in April.

Since the girl reported her molestation, other women have stepped forward with their own allegations that Cooper molested them as far back as 45 years ago. One woman sued Cooper and settled with him out of court.

Kay said he finds the other molestation allegations credible and suggest Cooper has a long-standing attraction for girls between 5 and 10 years old. But he also said he suspects the molestation and attraction for young girls have something to do with Cooper’s own molestation as a child.

The court is allowing Cooper to turn himself in to serve his prison sentence in January to allow him time to care for his 75-year-old wife, who is recovering from surgery.

The girl said her mother calls her "crap" because she didn’t believe Cooper molested her. And she said the experience affected her relationship with her father, as well.

She said she winced every time her father hugged her because she is afraid of being molested again.