Michael Jackson’s former maid testified Tuesday at his molestation trial that she found the singer showering with a boy who often slept in the pop star’s bed.
The woman, who was Jackson’s personal maid for about five years, told of seeing Jackson in the shower with a boy about 8 years old who frequently stayed at Neverland and slept in the singer’s bed.
“Are you aware of him staying anywhere other than in Michael Jackson’s bedroom?” asked prosecutor Ron Zonen.
“No,” said the woman, speaking with a Spanish accent. “He stay there.”
Found in showerOne day, she said, she used a key to enter the bedroom and heard “laughing, playing — like playing around.”
“First I thought they were playing in bathtub or Jacuzzi or outside in his garden and I walked in and they were in the shower,” she said, adding later, “I peek in and they were in shower.”
The woman said she saw their clothes on the floor outside the shower but retreated because she thought Jackson would be mad if he found her there.
Interrogated at length about how she knew who was in the shower when the door was clouded, the witness said she was certain that she saw “Mr. Jackson and little kid” through the steam.
Under cross-examination, she said she also recalled seeing Jackson and the boy in Jackson’s bed watching TV, both wearing nothing from the waist up. She said they were under the covers and she could not tell if they were clothed.
She acknowledged that people would often hang out on Jackson’s bed and watch TV, and that she even served guests food there.
Jackson is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 2003 at his Neverland ranch.
The former maid testified as part of a prosecution effort to show that the pop star had a pattern of molesting or otherwise behaving inappropriately with other boys. The woman’s own son received a $2.4 million settlement from Jackson in 1994 after claiming the pop star groped him.
The former maid told of seeing actor Macaulay Culkin at Neverland and said he also stayed in Jackson’s bedroom. She called him “the little kid from the movies” and said he often came with his father, mother, brother and sister, but sometimes was brought alone by Jackson.
Although the prosecution was allowed to present testimony about Culkin, the defense has asserted that the “Home Alone” star has denied being molested. Culkin’s spokeswoman has said he will not be involved in the case.
'It's hard being up here'Earlier, the former maid’s 24-year-old son clashed with defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. as the attorney cross-examined him about inconsistencies between the story he told Monday and accounts he gave to authorities as recently as December.
“I don’t mean to sound like I’m wasting your time,” he told the lawyer at one point. “It’s hard being up here.”
The jury was told he received a financial settlement from Jackson but was not told the sum. The young man’s attorney acknowledged that the terms of the settlement involved no admission of wrongdoing by Jackson.
On Monday, the young man said Jackson twice touched his crotch over his clothes and once reached under his clothes and touched his genitals during tickling games when he was 7 to 10. He also said that in the first two incidents Jackson gave him $100.
He also said he told no one until 1993, when detectives investigating another boy’s allegations came to him. That interview was followed by others in 1994 and in October, November and December 2004.
Under cross-examination Tuesday, he acknowledged in his 1993 interview that he initially said Jackson did not molest him. Mesereau asked whether investigators became aggressive and began calling Jackson a “molester” and cursing.
The witness said he did not remember details of the interview.
“It was only after you were pushed real hard by the sheriffs that you began to say anything like that,” Mesereau said.
The witness also contradicted himself on a couple of points. Under questioning by Mesereau, he said Jackson would give him money whenever he read a book or got an A. Under questioning by one of the prosecutors, he said that did not happen.
Jackson had no comment as he left court. Testimony was not scheduled to be heard Wednesday because the judge has a pre-existing meeting. The trial was recessed until Thursday.