CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As her grandfather's trial began Tuesday, a 14-year old girl clutched a red teddy bear to her chest and quietly told a jury that he fondled her many times in his bed when she was younger.
Her 17-year-old sister took the witness stand next, weeping as she described how Darrell Eugene Smith, 61, of Dunbar, prompted sexual favors from her from the time she was 5 years old. The incidents took place while their grandmother slept in the living room nearby, she said.
Smith is charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse and sexual assault of his granddaughters. He has pleaded not guilty, and his public defender called the alleged victims "neglected and lonely" girls who fabricated the stories about him.
In addition to the girls, their mother and a family friend took the witness stand on the first day of the trial before Kanawha Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey Walker. Today, attorney Jesse Forbes, son of a former county prosecutor and family friend, was expected to testify on the grandfather's behalf.
"My grandfather hurt me," said the younger girl, never looking up during her testimony and clinging to the teddy bear. "He molested me. He touched me inappropriately."
Prompted by assistant prosecutor Dan Holstein, she told jury that she was told to sleep in her grandfather's bed when she went to his home every other weekend. Late at night, she said, he would grope her under her clothes and also asked her to touch his genitals.
The events took place over a two-year period, she said. Before that, she had been diagnosed with cancer and spent years in treatment in Charleston hospitals and Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
When she was 11, she told a friend about the touching, and then a school counselor who notified her mother and authorities.
The mother then questioned her other four daughters, and her then-14-year-old said Smith had also sexually abused her, according to testimony.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As her grandfather's trial began Tuesday, a 14-year old girl clutched a red teddy bear to her chest and quietly told a jury that he fondled her many times in his bed when she was younger.
Her 17-year-old sister took the witness stand next, weeping as she described how Darrell Eugene Smith, 61, of Dunbar, prompted sexual favors from her from the time she was 5 years old. The incidents took place while their grandmother slept in the living room nearby, she said.
Smith is charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse and sexual assault of his granddaughters. He has pleaded not guilty, and his public defender called the alleged victims "neglected and lonely" girls who fabricated the stories about him.
In addition to the girls, their mother and a family friend took the witness stand on the first day of the trial before Kanawha Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey Walker. Today, attorney Jesse Forbes, son of a former county prosecutor and family friend, was expected to testify on the grandfather's behalf.
"My grandfather hurt me," said the younger girl, never looking up during her testimony and clinging to the teddy bear. "He molested me. He touched me inappropriately."
Prompted by assistant prosecutor Dan Holstein, she told jury that she was told to sleep in her grandfather's bed when she went to his home every other weekend. Late at night, she said, he would grope her under her clothes and also asked her to touch his genitals.
The events took place over a two-year period, she said. Before that, she had been diagnosed with cancer and spent years in treatment in Charleston hospitals and Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
When she was 11, she told a friend about the touching, and then a school counselor who notified her mother and authorities.
The mother then questioned her other four daughters, and her then-14-year-old said Smith had also sexually abused her, according to testimony.
Now 17 and married with two children, that daughter told the jury, "He said if I loved him, I would not tell anyone. And he was trying to help me with my life and my future."
She said she wished she had revealed the abuse, which included oral sex, earlier.
"When my sister told me I felt guilty," she said, crying. "Because it had happened to me and I felt if I had told somebody she would not have had to go through it."
After testifying, both girls hugged each other in the hallway outside, sobbing.
Holstein told jurors as the trial got underway, "I'm going to ask you to believe these girls. They've lost a great deal through all this.
"They've lost two grandparents they loved," he said. "They lost their church family, because they were ostracized. Two years and eight months has gone by since they came forward, and they have not changed their story once."
But Michelson said the children were raised in a harsh environment of "persistent threat where any kind of touch can be misread," and she said they made up a story about their grandfather to get help and attention.
"You ask yourself why would two girls lie about their grandfather," Michelson said. "The story took on a life of its own and it became hard to stop.
Contact writer Cheryl Caswell at cher...@dailymail.com or (304) 348-4832.
