'Michael Jackson molested me'

2005-04-05 07:49

Santa Maria, California - The son of Michael Jackson's former maid wept on Monday as he described during explosive testimony how the star allegedly molested him three times between the ages of seven and 10.

The 24-year-old man choked back tears as he told jurors in Jackson's child sex trial that the "King of Pop" first fondled his genitals more than 15 years ago and again on two later occasions.

"This is so much harder than I thought," he said, dabbing his eyes with a tissue as he recalled the alleged abuse in testimony that legal analysts said amounted to a courtroom bombshell.

"It's embarrassing. It was embarrassing then, and it's embarrassing now," he said as he offered the stunning testimony against the superstar. "This took a lot of counselling," he said, adding that he had to undergo five years of therapy.

Years of counselling

Jackson is on trial for allegedly fondling a 13-year-old boy two years ago, but Judge Rodney Melville has allowed the prosecution to present five earlier cases of alleged child abuse by the superstar.

Testimony about the prior cases began on Monday, with the former youth pastor saying Jackson fondled him twice through his clothes and once put his hands inside his shorts.

The third incident took place when the two were playing video games in the amusement arcade at Jackson's Neverland Ranch, the alleged victim said, adding that he was 10 at the time.

"He reached on my leg, then he reached up to my privates," said the alleged victim, who won an out-of-court settlement worth a reported $2m from Jackson in 1994 but said he only learned of the deal in 1997.

The man said he could hardly bring himself to mention the incident when he was interviewed by police in 1993.

"I tried to block everything out," he said under cross-examination by Jackson's lawyer Thomas Mesereau who pointed out inconsistencies between what the witness told authorities in 1993 and his testimony on Monday.

"I was scared," the young man said. "I didn't want to be embarrassed at school. I didn't want to be embarrassed anywhere, I was 13."

After the first two sexual assaults, both of which took place when the boy was seven or eight years old, Jackson gave him 100-dollar bills, the witness said, adding: "It was kind of don't-tell-your-mum money."

The man said that on both occasions, Jackson first tickled him and then groped him through his clothes as they watched television in the star's Los Angeles apartment known as "the hideout."

He said that on one occasion, the star was lying behind him with his arm around him. "He was tickling me from behind in the genital area," he said

The witness said that he did not initially even tell his mother of the alleged abuse.

Legal analysts Monday's testimony was electrifying and damaging to the defence.

- AFP