The 23rd Day in Court

The man who claimed that more than 15 years ago Michael Jackson sexually abused him testified in court today.

The complainant, who is the child of a former Jackson housekeeper and is now 24 years old, broke down crying while testifying in the witness stand. He claimed that he was sexually abused three times by Michael Jackson. He said that he had not told anyone about this until now. He stated that the first incident happened in 1987 or 1988—when he was 7.5 years old. He said that after that, Jackson paid him $100.

He mentioned the next two alleged incidents in 1989 and 1990. Regarding all three allegations, he said that he and Michael were tickling each other, and that on all three occasions he felt Michael’s hand touching his private parts.

In court, Thomas Mezrow read the complainant’s testimony as an incorrect recollection of memories and said that under pressure from the investigators’ questions and the insistence of his mother, he was forced to accept events that never happened.

Michael appeared completely calm throughout the time the witness was on the stand.

In 1993, when the sexual abuse allegations against Jackson were raised, the complainant was among the children who were questioned by police investigators. That year, he had denied any immoral conduct by Jackson.

Jesus Salas, who had worked as Michael Jackson’s housekeeper at Norland from June 2002 to June 2003, was the next witness called by the prosecutor. He first testified before the jury that the complainant’s family had been kept at Norland against their will, but a few minutes later he took back what he had said.

Salas initially described how the crying mother of the complainant removed him from Norland in the dark at night, in Jackson’s Rolls Royce.

But a few minutes later, when Thomas Mezrow, Michael Jackson’s senior attorney, began asking questions of the witness, Salas denied everything he had said.

Salas admitted that in his interviews with special investigators from the team of Jackson’s defense attorneys, he had stated that “the complainant’s mother was never imprisoned in her room and was never kept at Norland against his will, and that he had never said that Jackson’s children were being used for profit.”

He also admitted that the complainant’s mother, whom Mezrow portrays as a money-hungry liar, told him that “he respects Michael and loves him.” He continued that the complainant’s mother returned there some time after he had taken her out of Norland.

Salas went on to add that he had once seen three drunk boys leaving the liquor storage at Norland.

Source: AFP / Court TV