9-year-old alleged sexual assault victim testifies
A 9-year-old alleged sex abuse victim clutched her angel teddy bear as she told a panel of Fayette County jurors Monday that Joseph Morrell Jr. had sex with her on multiple times when she visited with him. State police trooper Brian Burden charged Morrell, of Dunbar Township with two counts each of rape and statutory sexual assault for allegedly abusing the girl at different periods between 1996 and 1998.
The soft-spoken child, now in fourth grade, testified that she went to bed in her own room when staying with Morrell.
“I did have my own room, but sometimes I had to go into his bedroom,” the child told Assistant District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr.
When Morrell brought her into his room, the child testified that he raped her. When asked how many times she was abused, the child could not give a definite number.
“I don’t know,” she testified, “but it was a lot.”
She also testified that after the alleged assaults, she took baths, “so the germs would get off me.”
But while the child testified for Heneks that the baths were often after the alleged assaults, she told defense attorney Brent E. Peck that she took baths in the morning at Morrell’s house.
The alleged assaults came to light, said Heneks, when the girl told an aunt who was babysitting her. The girl testified she told her aunt because she didn’t want Morrell to hurt her anymore.
In his opening remarks to jurors, Heneks asked the panel to have understanding for the alleged victim’s youthful inability to remember precise times that assaults took place.
“The fact that there is no precision as to the dates and times should not lead you to conclude that (the victim) is not telling the truth,” said Heneks.
The girl could not identify specific times that alleged abuse occurred during her testimony.
Peck, meanwhile, asked jurors to reserve judgment of Morrell until hearing all the evidence in the trial. He noted that the alleged victim was taken to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, where doctors found no physical evidence of assault.
“The only evidence of sexual assault is that of a 7-year-old girl who said these things happened when she was 4 or 5 years old,” said Peck.
Melanie Caldwell, an expert in pediatric sexual assault from Children’s, testified that there were no physical findings that bolstered the child’s claim of rape, but said that the lack of physical findings did not mean the rapes did not happen.
The alleged victim’s mother also testified, and told jurors that she talked to her daughter when the child touched herself sexually.
“She said she learned from (Morrell) touching her,” testified her mother.
Burden also testified, and said that he took 8 1/2 months to complete his investigation after the girl and her mother came forward on Jan. 14, 2000.
Morrell was arrested in September 2000.
During an interview with Burden, the trooper testified that Morrell answered questions relating to the allegations.
“Basically, he was telling me that he didn’t quite remember what happened at that time because he was experiencing some life difficulties,” testified Burden.
Testimony is expected to pick up this morning before Judge Gerald R. Solomon.