Boy in danger, Jackson said
2005-04-13 23:29
Santa Maria - The mother of the boy who accused Michael Jackson of sex abuse said on Wednesday the star called to warn her that her son was in danger before allegedly plotting to hold the family prisoner.
The woman testified at the superstar's trial that Jackson told her in a telephone call in early 2003 that her then 13-year-old son was in danger and had to appear at a press conference on the faded King of Pop's behalf.
The woman said she spoke to Jackson after intercepting a call from the singer to her son following the British broadcast of a documentary by journalist Martin Bashir in which Jackson held hands with his future accuser and admitted that he frequently allowed children to sleep in his bed.
"He told me that (my son) was in danger and there had to be press conference because of this Bashir man," the 37-year-old mother said.
The woman said that at that point she had only met Jackson once before and had never spoken to him on the telephone, but that her now 15-year-old son would spend hours on phone calls to the 46-year-old star.
Prosecutors say that Jackson then flew the mother and her three children to the southeastern US city of Miami for a news conference that never took place.
'Lovey-dovey meeting'
"That's when I became aware all three of my kids were in danger," she said.
In Miami, the woman said she had a "lovey-dovey, 45 minute meeting" with Jackson in which he spoke in a very normal, very male voice and told her the lives of all three of her children were in danger.
Jackson said he "loves us, that he cares about us, that we're family ... that he's going to protect us from these killers", the woman said.
Jackson then sat her down with two aides and told her "to listen and do everything they say because they're going to fix the problem", she told the court.
The two men, both accused of conspiring with Jackson to kidnap the family, took down details of her home address and those of her close relatives, she testified.
A few days later Jackson returned the family to his Neverland Ranch in California where they were allegedly held prisoner until they agreed to make a video to clear Jackson's name.
Prosecutors claim that Jackson and five aides panicked after the broadcast of Bashir's documentary and isolated the family in order to force them to make a video exonerating the star of any suggestion of child abuse.
Jackson has pleaded innocent to 10 charges including molesting the 2003 accuser, plying the boy with alcohol and plotting to keep him and his family prisoner.
He faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted on all the charges.
- AFP