SANTA MARIA, Calif. — The sister of Michael Jackson's teenage accuser on Thursday supported prosecution charges that the pop star drank wine with young boys, held her family against their will at Neverland ranch, and planned to get them out of the way by sending them to Brazil.
Speaking in a little-girl voice that sometimes trailed off, the 18-year-old college freshman came across as earnest and sympathetic in her testimony at Jackson's child-molestation trial. However, she has yet to face cross-examination by Jackson's attorneys, who contend that her mother is a con artist who manipulated her children into making phony claims against the pop star.
The daughter and mother bear a striking resemblance to each other, with the daughter even wearing a similar black suit and white blouse to testify. The daughter on Thursday appeared composed, while her mother was combative and dramatic at a pretrial hearing last fall.
Under questioning from Santa Barbara County Dist. Atty. Tom Sneddon, the young woman spoke of growing up in an East Los Angeles "bachelor's apartment" with her parents and two younger brothers. She said her father abused the entire family, hitting her mother "too many times to count." The couple divorced several years ago.
Asked to identify photos of figures in the case that were projected on a big screen at the front of the courtroom, she paused at her mother's.
"That's my mommy," she said. Jackson, 46, is charged with molesting her brother two years ago, when he was 13, and conspiring to force the boy and his family to appear in a video tribute to him. The so-called rebuttal video, which eventually aired on the Fox network, was created to counter a TV broadcast in which Jackson admitted to enjoying sleepovers with boys.
In court on Thursday, the boy's sister said she saw Jackson pour cups of white wine in his Neverland wine cellar for her two brothers and "Baby Rubba," the young brother of Jackson aide Frank Tyson. She also acknowledged having some herself.
Prosecutors have accused Jackson of plying the alleged molestation victim with wine and vodka over several weeks in order to seduce him.
It was a twisted path that brought the family back to Jackson's ranch for weeks in February and March 2003. Three years before, the boy, thought to be terminally ill with cancer, told a family friend that he wanted to meet Jackson. The friend, Hollywood comedy club owner Jamie Masada, arranged it, the sister testified.
