Le Socialiste
16th July 2012, 18:30
A family friend of George Zimmerman told investigators he sexually molested her on and off for nearly a decade, newly released audio tapes in the Trayvon Martin shooting case reveal.
"He would reach under the blankets and try to do things," the woman—identified as "Witness 9"—told investigators.
She said the molestation occurred at Zimmerman's parents' house.
"I would try to push him off, but he was bigger, stronger and older," she said during the interview conducted on March 20, less than a month after the Feb. 26 shooting. The woman, who contacted prosecutors after Martin's killing, said she was 6 and Zimmerman was 8 when the alleged molestation began. It continued until she was 16, she said.
Investigators asked the woman why she's coming forward now. "This is the first time in my life that I'm not afraid of him," she replied. (The woman also told state investigators that she anonymously called Sanford police after Martin's death to tell them what she knew about Zimmerman.)
Her family would get together with Zimmerman's at least once a year, she said. "Every time that we would go up there, I could just look at him and he would give me a certain look and I would just know it was going to happen when we got together for family gatherings. ... He just got this look in his eye like he was going to [molest me]."
The woman said she was not the only victim. "It's not just me that he would do these things to," she told investigators. But the other alleged victim would never come forward, "Witness 9" said, declining to give investigators her name: "She said she would deny it either way."
"Georgie," she said, would tell her to tell others that they were just lying down or playing hide-n-seek. "Georgie just sucked up to my dad," she said. "He was like the son he never had."
The audio was released on Monday along dozens of recordings from phone calls Zimmerman made while behind bars in April. State prosecutors and defense attorney Mark O'Mara fought to keep the audio files under seal, but Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. ruled the evidence is public information and ordered them to be made available.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/zimmerman-witness-sexual-molestation-160900334.html
"He would reach under the blankets and try to do things," the woman—identified as "Witness 9"—told investigators.
She said the molestation occurred at Zimmerman's parents' house.
"I would try to push him off, but he was bigger, stronger and older," she said during the interview conducted on March 20, less than a month after the Feb. 26 shooting. The woman, who contacted prosecutors after Martin's killing, said she was 6 and Zimmerman was 8 when the alleged molestation began. It continued until she was 16, she said.
Investigators asked the woman why she's coming forward now. "This is the first time in my life that I'm not afraid of him," she replied. (The woman also told state investigators that she anonymously called Sanford police after Martin's death to tell them what she knew about Zimmerman.)
Her family would get together with Zimmerman's at least once a year, she said. "Every time that we would go up there, I could just look at him and he would give me a certain look and I would just know it was going to happen when we got together for family gatherings. ... He just got this look in his eye like he was going to [molest me]."
The woman said she was not the only victim. "It's not just me that he would do these things to," she told investigators. But the other alleged victim would never come forward, "Witness 9" said, declining to give investigators her name: "She said she would deny it either way."
"Georgie," she said, would tell her to tell others that they were just lying down or playing hide-n-seek. "Georgie just sucked up to my dad," she said. "He was like the son he never had."
The audio was released on Monday along dozens of recordings from phone calls Zimmerman made while behind bars in April. State prosecutors and defense attorney Mark O'Mara fought to keep the audio files under seal, but Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. ruled the evidence is public information and ordered them to be made available.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/zimmerman-witness-sexual-molestation-160900334.html