Thread: Son Testifies in Sex Abuse Case Against his Mother

Son testifies in sex abuse case against his mother
BY ANN GIVENS | ann.givens@newsday.com
September 19, 2008


Fourteen years after he said he was molested as a boy in his Syosset bedroom, a 20-year-old man took the witness stand yesterday in a Mineola courtroom to confront the person he said was his abuser - his mother.

The man said that when he was fast asleep, he would often feel his mother slide under the covers next to him, he testified at his mother's molestation trial in Nassau County Court.

He spoke in a monotone, shoulders slightly hunched as he recounted what happened next. His mother would tell him it was time to play a game, he said. Then she would force him to perform oral sex on her. For years, he didn't tell anyone.

"At first I didn't know what was happening," he said yesterday in Mineola. "Later, I was too scared to tell anyone. I was raped by my mother. It was humiliating."



As he spoke, his mother looked at him, slowly shaking her head. Newsday is not naming the defendant to avoid identifying the children.

The young man testified in his mother's trial, which began last week, on charges that she molested him and his younger sister for about six years, beginning when they were in elementary school. The children, a son and two daughters, are now ages 17, 20 and 24.

If the woman, 53, who now lives in Seaford, is convicted, Judge James McCormack could sentence her to a maximum of 7 to 21 years in prison.

The mother's lawyer, Kevin Keating of Garden City, has said that the son and his younger sister were convinced to falsely accuse their mother of molesting them during a vicious custody battle between their parents after their 1998 divorce.

The accusations of abuse started when the eldest daughter, who had been diagnosed with psychosis, told psychiatrists in 2002 of vague sexual memories involving her mother, Keating has said. He said the children's father then seized upon those memories, putting the younger children in therapy specifically designed to help them recover memories of sexual abuse.

The father, 55, of Woodbury, denied those accusations over three days of testimony. He also said his eldest daughter had been misdiagnosed.

Yesterday, the son recounted several terrible memories of his mother, not all involving sexual abuse.

He said she took him and his younger sister to the veterinarian to euthanize their beloved family dog hours before the rehearsal dinner for their father's second marriage - even though the dog wasn't especially sick.

She also forced him and his older sister to engage in sex acts together, he said.

Once, when he was 12, he said he decided to put an end to the abuse, and barged into his younger sister's room when he knew his mother was there abusing the young girl.

He said he told his sister to leave, but his mother forced him to have sex instead.

"I'm supposed to be the guy," he said. "I was supposed to take care of my baby sister. I couldn't."

Son testifies in sex abuse case against his mother -- Newsday.com

Um .. bullshit.

The vet wouldn't have euthanized a healthy animal.

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