Jackson accuser’s mother denies inventing beating

THE mother of Michael Jackson’s young accuser insisted yesterday bruises she apparently received at the hands of a department store’s security guards were authentic.

The jury at Santa Maria court, California, was shown pictures of the mother covered in marks from the alleged beating.

The family won a settlement of some €114,000 when she claimed to have been beaten and sexually assaulted by the guards after her son was caught shoplifting in 1998.

The incident is not related to the current trial but has been used widely by the defence in an attempt to paint the family as money grabbers, all too familiar with making false claims to win a payout. The photographs, introduced by the prosecution, were seized upon by the Jackson team in an attempt to undermine her credibility

There was some discrepancy over when the bruises were contracted and the singer’s lawyer, Tom Mesereau suggested they were actually from a beating by her former husband.

“That’s incorrect,” she said. She said the pictures were taken straight after the altercation but acknowledged she had previously told police they did not show up straight away.