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Jackson defence winding up case
23/05/2005 21:00 - (SA)
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| Michael Jackson arrives at the Santa Barbara county courthouse for a day of defence testimony in his child sex trial. (Michael A Mariant, AP.) |
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Santa Maria - Michael Jackson's lawyers portrayed the mother of his child-sex accuser on Monday as a liar and a fraudster, as they wound up their defence of the embattled superstar.
Jackson's lawyers, who are expected to rest their case by as early as Tuesday, called an accountant to analyse the income and expenditure of the mother of Jackson's 13-year-old accuser during the period of the family's alleged captivity at the hands of the King of Pop.
Jackson's lawyers have painted the woman as a money-grubber with a history of welfare fraud and bilking celebrities who trained her children to lie in a bid to extort the 46-year-old Jackson.
Chartered accountant Mike Radakovich told jurors the boy's mother received a monthly state welfare check of $769 at the time when she was receiving thousands of dollars from Michael Jackson and his associates.
'Getting money under false pretences'
In addition, the woman received more than $32 000 as a settlement from a civil lawsuit against a department store where she and her children were detained on suspicion of shoplifting.
Failing to report the additional cash revenues amounted to fraud, Mercy Mannriquez of the department of social security, told the court.
"She was getting money under false pretences," said legal analyst Jim Moret.
"She was getting money from her boyfriend, she was getting money from Michael Jackson at the same time as she was getting welfare checks."
The accuser's mother refused to discuss allegations that she engaged in welfare fraud when she took the stand during Jackson's trial, invoking the Fifth Amendment to avoid incriminating herself.
The financial records analysed by Radakovich showed the accuser's mother went on a $7 000 spending spree at the time when she claims she and her family were held captive by Jackson and his aides in February and March 2003.
During that period, the woman bought clothing, hair products and expensive dinners, while also paying fees for birth certificates, which prosecutor says Jackson and his aides made her ask for as part of an alleged plan to take the family to Brazil.
The accountant also pointed to two checks for $10 000 each that the woman received from a comedian on behalf of her then-cancer-stricken son during the same period about two years ago.
Sensor-triggered alarm
The jurors also heard on Monday from Neverland maid Maria Gomez, who described how a sensor-triggered alarm outside Jackson's bedroom sounded as people approached the door.
The defence claims that the presence of the alarm means that the brother of Jackson's accuser could not have surprised the star fondling his alleged child-sex victim, as the accuser's brother claimed in his testimony.
Once the lawyers rest their case, the prosecution will get a chance for rebuttal and the defence can then put on witnesses again for counter-rebuttal.
- AFP
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