Us: A 14-year-old who claims to have seen Michael Jackson molest his brother has given several contrasting versions of events, it emerged yesterday.
The boy is a crucial witness in the Michael Jackson abuse case, having told Santa Maria court in California that he saw the singer abuse his 13-year-old brother on two occasions.
But under cross-examination he was accused of changing key details in interviews with police, a therapist and the grand jury.
In one account he said he had been lying on a couch pretending to be asleep when he witnessed the second molestation.
"I was pretending like I was sleeping. I was in his couch, the little couch," he told police.
But in court he said he had spied both incidents through the door from the hall outside Jackson's bedroom at his Neverland ranch.
Defence lawyer Thomas Mesereau bombarded the teenager with questions, asking why his account had changed.
"I was nervous when I did the interview," the boy said.
"So because you were nervous you didn't get the facts right," the lawyer asked. The boy conceded that was the case.
As he was taken almost line by line through previous interviews, the boy also admitted that during the month his family was allegedly held hostage at Neverland, they had left the premises three times.
He contradicted evidence given by his sister, who has testified that she and the boys drank wine in Jackson's cellar.
The boy claimed Jackson had given his sister alcohol in the kitchen, and it was vodka not wine.
The jury was again played footage of the family heaping praise on Jackson, describing him affectionately as a father figure. The family claims they had been forced to make the video as a rebuttal to British journalist Martin Bashir's controversial documentary.
The trial continues.