Jackson accuser's mother 'was acting'
The woman at the centre of Michael Jackson’s child abuse trial will today be cross-examined by the pop star’s defence team, expected to launch a strong attack on her credibility.
Gavin Arvizo’s mother, Janet, has claimed she was kept under close guard by the pop star’s associates and that every move was monitored in the aftermath of Martin Bashir’s controversial documentary.
She told Santa Maria court she was coerced into making a video that heaped praise on the pop star because the lives of her parents and boyfriend were threatened.
The film was made in February 2003 to offset a potential backlash in the wake of the Bashir’s show.
“I was confused, I was sad, so basically I was acting,” she said.
She claimed she was given a script and instructed to say that Jackson was “a wonderful father” to her children.
Mrs Arvizo said the singer’s aides then tried to control an interview with child welfare services, instructing her to secretly record the meeting and to play a DVD depicting Jackson strolling arm in arm with cancer-stricken Gavin.
She was then told her performance was not good enough and the family would have to leave the country, she claimed.
She was taken to get passports, visas and birth certificates so the family could be sent to Brazil, she told the court.
Asked why she agreed to go away at all, she said she was warned her parents and boyfriend would be killed she refused to leave.
During that period, between February 21 and March 10, 2003, she said she was told “killers” were after the family and only Jackson could protect them.
She said she was kept under guard, her phone calls were monitored and at one point she and the children were abruptly transferred to a hotel.
She said she had not contacted the police as her calls were being monitored and she thought no one could possibly believe her. Jackson’s lawyer, Tom Mesereau, is expected to paint her as a liar and a money grabber who used her children to extort money from celebrities.
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