Jackson: Child's mom 'confused'

2005-04-14 21:04

Santa Maria The mother of the boy who has accused Michael Jackson of child molestation testified on Thursday that she was sad and confused when she appeared in a video to praise the pop star as a father figure.

Prosecutors contend the woman and her family made the video under duress and that Jackson associates wanted them to do it to rebut a TV documentary that had aired about two weeks earlier.

In the TV show, Jackson was seen with the boy and said he allowed children to sleep in his bed but that it was innocent.

The woman said she was given a script to follow and that during the video shoot she was read scripted questions.

She said she was instructed to say repeatedly "that he's a wonderful father ... to my children".

Senior deputy district attorney Ron Zonen asked if she really believed the things she said on the video.

"I was confused, I was sad, so basically I was acting," she said.

On the tape, the woman continually praised Jackson and occasionally laughed and joked with her children between takes.

'Germans'

The mother said Jackson associate Dieter Wiesner, whom prosecutors have named as one of the singer's unindicted co-conspirators, was responsible for scripting the questions and answers.

She had testified a day earlier that Wiesner was one of the "Germans" she didn't like because they made her feel pressured.

Both Wiesner and another alleged co-conspirator, Ronald Konitzer, are German.

In her jumbled and tearful testimony Wednesday, she said she originally trusted the singer and associates to protect her family from unidentified "killers", but later decided Jackson was the one to fear.

The boy's mother also said she saw Jackson lick her son's head during a February 2003 flight from Miami to California on a private jet.

Asked about the event, she turned to jurors and pleaded, "Please don't judge me."

She sobbed, pounded her chest and said, "I thought I was seeing things. I thought it was me."

- AP