ASKED whether she was lying, the alleged victim in a sexual abuse of a minor case said, “Why would I lie? If I was lying, I wouldn’t be here.”
Asked whether anyone was pressuring her to accuse the defendant of wrongdoing, the 15-year-old minor said, “No.”
The girl on Tuesday testified in the jury trial of Venitus Ruwaath who, she said, inappropriately touched her in June 2020, before her 12th birthday.
In her testimony, she reiterated what she had earlier told the police: that she was in bed watching YouTube videos when the defendant entered the room, asked her what she was doing, and started touching her inappropriately.
She testified that she was not being pressured by anyone, and that she gets emotional whenever she recalls the incident.
Asked why she called the defendant “dad,” the minor said she forced herself to call him “dad” to hide the fact that he had touched her inappropriately.
Ruwaath, 42, was charged with sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree. He appeared out of custody and was represented by Assistant Public Defenders Emily Thomsen and Carrie Comstock.
Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds and Assistant Attorney General Frances Demapan appeared for the government.
The trial started Monday with Superior Court Associate Judge Wesley Bogdan presiding.
Also testifying for the government on Tuesday was the minor’s mother.
In her testimony, the mother said she learned about the incident on March 26, 2022 when she was having lunch with her husband, daughter, and son.
“We were going to a gathering that she did not want to go. She got upset because she could not stay home,” the mother said.
“She told me, ‘Tell Uncle Vince [Venitus Ruwaath] to stop touching me.’”
The mother said the defendant was her brother-in-law — her sister’s husband.
“I was shocked, I could not believe what she had said,” the mother said, referring to her daughter. “There were so many things running on my mind after she said that. I even got ER’d. I was not understanding what was happening.”
She added, “I did not report it that day that she told me. I was in ER. The next day she asked me if I would report it. She asked me twice. I told her yes, that was March 27, 2022.”
