http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/8/123788/1.ashx updated existing thread 11 y.o attacked by elder in kitchen while baking him a pie this is today's news also in yet another country Woman describes kitchen assault
Waterloo Record, Canada - 22 mins ago Dec 6-2006
... The testimony was the latest chapter in the trial of Martin, 76, a Jehovah's Witness elder, who has pleaded not guilty to sexual interference. ... KITCHENER (Dec 6, 2006) A Kitchener woman testified yesterday she was sexually assaulted as a young girl by a church elder who came up behind her while she was baking him a pie at his home. The woman, who was about 11 years old at the time and is 29 now, said she was standing alone in Claude Martin's kitchen when he suddenly put both of his hands on her hips and rubbed himself against her back. The incident, which she said occurred between January 1988 and December 1989, lasted only seconds and she immediately fled to her unsuspecting father, who was in a nearby room, the woman told a judge in Kitchener's Ontario Court. The testimony was the latest chapter in the trial of Martin, 76, a former Jehovah's Witness elder, who has pleaded not guilty to sexual interference. The alleged victims were two young girls associated with his congregation. On Nov. 8, a judge heard that Martin allegedly touched a young girl's buttocks and placed his finger in her vagina during door-to-door visits to gain adherents to the Jehovah's Witnesses. The incident allegedly happened between January 2000 and December 2001. The girl was about 10 at the time. The woman who was allegedly assaulted in the kitchen as a child was asked yesterday by Crown prosecutor Mark Poland if she ever reported the incident to anyone. The woman replied that aside from mentioning it to her best friend at the time, she kept silent. "I had an incident happen before within (the Jehovah's Witnesses) and after mentioning something, nothing come out of it," she said . The woman remained silent until she was contacted by the second girl's mother, who told her Martin had inappropriately touched her daughter. "I wanted to help out in any way I could," she said. "I didn't want her to go through what I've gone through as an adult." The woman said she and the girl's mother both agreed to go to the police and file a statement about what Martin allegedly had done. Defence lawyer James Marentette asked the woman if she heard Martin enter the kitchen or saw him in the kitchen while running to her father after the alleged assault. She said that although she didn't look back after she broke free and didn't hear anyone entering the kitchen, she was certain it was Martin who grabbed her. "I knew it was him," she said. [email protected] send letter to editor [email protected] News Room