Sister of Jackson’s accuser admits to lying

Friday March 4, 11:09 PM Sister of Jackson’s child sex accuser admits to lying SANTA MARIA, United States (AFP) – The sister of the boy who accused Michael Jackson of child abuse admitted in front of trial jurors that she had selectively lied about details of the case. In testimony that was frequently contradictory, the 18-year-old who had earlier offered a damaging account of her family’s stay at Jackson’s home, conceded during cross examination by Jackson’s attorney that she did not always tell the truth. She also told jurors that she had previously made a police report in which she accused her father of molesting, falsely imprisoning and making terrorist threats against her — similar charges to those made by her brother against Jackson. Lawyer Thomas Mesereau cornered the woman over why she and members of her family had told social workers Jackson had never acted inappropriately with her 13-year-old brother who later accused the star of molestation. “So you’d lie about certain things and tell the truth about certain things, depending on what you are asked, right?” Mesereau asked the woman. “Yeah,” she softly replied. The girl, along with her mother and two younger brothers, also made a video for Jackson’s personal cameraman in which they described him as a loving father-figure to the family and the alleged sex abuse victim. The accuser’s sister told the court, however, that the video had been scripted by Jackson aides who coerced the family to say “nice things” about the star. Prosecutors claim Jackson aides held the family captive until they agreed to make the film seen by jurors Friday. When Mesereau asked the woman if her mother had lied on the video when she claimed that only Jackson would help them get cancer treatment for the boy who later accused him, she said the star’s aides had asked her to lie. “She was just trying to make it more dramatic. That’s what they wanted. We had been given a script,” she said. The girl said she and her mother, painted by defence layers as a financial predator who coached her children to lie in various legal actions, went to police after the father allegedly admitted abusing her. She said she learned of the alleged admission of molestation when she overheard an argument between her parents, who have since divorced. “It was just a horrible experience to find out he did that to me when I was young,” she told the jury. The accuser’s sister denied her mother had sought money to pay for the medical care of her cancer-stricken brother, as Jackson’s lawyers maintain. Instead, she said, it was her father who had initially sought money, including fund-raising evenings at a Los Angeles comedy club and a newspaper appeal, against her mother’s wishes. The defence claims that the accuser’s mother had used her son’s illness to raise money even though the boy’s medical treatment was covered by the family’s medical insurance. Jackson’s lawyers claim that the alleged child sex victim’s mother then allegedly used the cash to pay for such luxuries as breast enhancement operations and a tummy-tuck for herself. The accuser’s sister also denied that the family had engaged a lawyer to launch a civil suit seeking cash from Jackson before they filed criminal charge against him. Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050304/323/fdr04.html