Stepdad tells of distressed call from Jackson accuser's mother

The stepfather of Michael Jackson’s accuser testified today that the boy’s mother called him in distress from the pop star’s Neverland estate during the period in which prosecutors allege the family was held captive.

The stepfather took the stand in Michael Jackson’s child sex-abuse trial in Santa Maria, California, as the prosecution shifted from witnesses who alleged past improprieties by the singer back to the current allegations that led to charges that he molested the 13-year-old boy in February or March 2003 and conspired to hold his family captive to get them to rebut a TV documentary.

In the February 6, 2003, documentary Living With Michael Jackson, the stepfather said he allowed children to sleep in his bed but characterised it as non-sexual.

At the time the programme was broadcast, the star had taken the boy, his siblings and his mother to Florida, then returned with the family to Neverland.

The then-future stepfather testified that the boy's mother was upset when she called him during the family’s return to Neverland immediately after the documentary went out. He said she later returned with her family to her parents’ house, where he picked her up and took her to his home in Los Angeles.

During the three or four days the family stayed with him, the man said, Jackson's accuser's mother received numerous calls from Frank Tyson, a Michael Jackson employee who prosecutors have named as one of his unindicted co-conspirators.

“She was emotional. She was crying. She was sitting in the closet having these conversations with Frank… She was very distressed,” the stepfather said in evidence.

He also said she was very distressed about her treatment by two men at Neverland, alleged unindicted co-conspirators Dieter Wiesner and Ronald Konitzer.

However, the family eventually agreed to return to Neverland, he said.

He testified that he had only one conversation with Tyson, in which Tyson asked him what kind of car he drove. He said he later saw surveillance tapes of himself driving the car, but did not say where he saw the tapes.

The prosecution said yesterday that it would call the boy's mother as early as today after some legal problems with her testimony had been resolved.

However, ABC News reported that the mother might not take the stand to avoid potential legal problems concerning alleged welfare fraud.

Citing unidentified sources, ABC said a prosecution motion filed under seal asks that the defence be prohibited from asking questions about welfare fraud.

District Attorney Tom Sneddon said in opening statements that the mother would admit obtaining welfare funds to which she was not entitled, but ABC said she had threatened to plead the Fifth Amendment.

Yesterday the mother of a boy who received a multi-million-dollar settlement from Michael Jackson in the 1990s testified that the singer treated her to trips and jewellery after she agreed to let the boy sleep in Jackson’s room during a trip to Las Vegas in 1993.

June Chandler, mother of Jordan (Jordy) Chandler, said Jackson knocked on her door one night.

“He was sobbing, shaking, trembling. He said, ’You don’t trust me. We’re a family. Why won’t you allow him to be in my bedroom?’,” Mrs Chandler told the court.

She said she relented and the next day Jackson gave her a gold Cartier bracelet.

She never testified to seeing Jordy molested.

Jordy, now 25, and his mother received a settlement after the boy filed a lawsuit accusing Jackson of molestation. She was not permitted to say how much was paid.

Jordy later refused to co-operate with investigators and has refused to testify at Jackson’s trial.

Mrs Chandler testified that after the Las Vegas incident Jackson stayed with Jordy at their Santa Monica home more than 30 times.

“And where would he stay?” asked Sneddon.

“In (my son’s) bedroom,” she said.