US: The teenage boy who has accused Michael Jackson of sexual abuse told police he thought the singer had molested him five to seven times, but he could only remember the details of two occasions, the chief investigator in the case testified yesterday.
"He told me specifically about two events. He believes it happened between five to seven times. He could not articulate what happened, but believed it happened five to seven times," Sgt Steve Robel told the jury at Jackson's trial.
He also said that the boy became withdrawn when he first told police about the alleged abuse at Jackson's Neverland ranch.
"I immediately noticed a major change in [ his] demeanour. He became very, very quiet, folded his arms and sank down in the chair. At one point, he got a little choked up," Sgt Robel said.
The boy, who was 13 at the time of the allegations, testified last week that Jackson masturbated him at least twice at Neverland in February or March, 2003.
The boy, who met Jackson when he was recovering from cancer, stepped down from the witness-stand on Tuesday after defiant exchanges with Jackson's lawyer.
Yesterday's proceedings had few of the fireworks which marked the first two weeks of the trial, when Jackson's accuser, his younger brother and his older sister painted a lurid picture of heavy drinking and pornography in Neverland.
Jackson is charged with committing lewd acts on his young accuser, plying him with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit extortion, false imprisonment and child abduction. He faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Both Sgt Robel and another sheriff's deputy, Det Paul Zelis, showed the jury pornographic magazines found stuffed in a box, in a briefcase in Jackson's closet and in a night-stand beside the singer's bed.
Det Zelis said that a picture of the three children in the case had also been found in the night-stand. Most of the adult magazines featured naked women. - (Reuters)