Michael Jackson’s defence attorney sought on Tuesday to undermine the credibility of the younger brother of his accuser by presenting a Father’s Day card written by the now 14-year-old to the singer.
In the card, written shortly after the boy first visited the singer’s Neverland ranch, and which was signed by the rest of the boy’s family, he praised Jackson (46). ”When we get broken and shattered into tiny little pieces, you always heal us,” the boy wrote. ”You are my super, super best, best friend. I love you. Michael, you are special to us. We love you unconditionally to infinity and beyond forever.”
The boy told the court that he had merely copied the words from another card he had bought in a supermarket. He also said that his card to the singer was written before the broadcast of the Martin Bashir documentary Living with Michael Jackson.
The prosecution alleges that Jackson sexually molested the elder brother in the wake of the television programme.
”That was before all that happened, before the Miami trip,” the boy said, referring to a visit to Florida organised by Jackson in which it is alleged the family was prevented from viewing the documentary.
At the conclusion of questions from the lead prosecutor, Tom Sneddon, the boy said that Jackson had told him and his elder brother not to talk about the alleged consumption of alcohol and pornography with the singer.
”Michael told me and Gavin not to tell anything that happened, not even if they put a gun to our head.”
Jackson’s attorney, Thomas Mesereau, pointed to inconsistencies in the boy’s testimony the previous day and to his testimony to a grand jury that decided that Jackson should face trial.
Questioned about a photograph of a briefcase found at the singer’s Neverland ranch containing pornographic magazines, the boy confirmed that the photograph showed magazines, including an issue of Barely Legal, that he claimed in testimony Jackson had shown him. But Mesereau showed that the date on the magazine was August 2003, some six months after the boy’s last visit to Neverland.
”I said he showed us magazines, I didn’t say it was exactly that one,” the boy said.
The boy denied suggestions from Mesereau that security staff at the ranch had caught him stealing alcohol and rifling through the singer’s bedroom. He insisted he had never been in the wine cellar without Jackson.
The singer faces charges of child molestation, administering alcohol to a child and multiple counts of conspiracy involving extortion, kidnapping and false imprisonment. – Guardian Unlimited Â