KWCH - Kansas News and Weather - Girl Takes Stand in Child Prostitution Trial

Girl Takes Stand in Child Prostitution Trial

by Cliff Judy (WICHITA, Kan.)

Prosecutors rest their case against Reginald Stafford and the mother of a girl at the center of the rape case.  The eight-year-old girl, takes the stand.  Stafford may take the stand in his own defense Friday morning.

Stafford and the girl's mother are charged with raping and sodomizing the daughter.  The mother also faces a count of endangering her child because prosecutors say Stafford gave her money to let him sexually assault the girl.

Thursday morning, the girl told jurors every time the mother took her to Stafford's house, he assaulted her and gave the mother six or seven dollars.

"Did anyone ever touch you in a way you didn't like?" prosecutor Shannon Wilson asked the girl.

"Yes," the girl answered.

"What part of your body did they touch you?"

"Private."

"Who touched you there?"

"Reggie."

The girl told jurors she'd been orally and vaginally assaulted, and a police detective says she told him about anal contact in a previous interview.  She said her mother was in the same room when the alleged assaults occurred, and this made her mad.  The girl told jurors she told Stafford and her mother she was mad, but that didn't stop the abuse.

"How did you know Reggie gave your mom money?" Wilson asked the girl.

"My mom told me," the girl answered.

"Did she ever share any of this money with you?"

"No."

"What did she spend the money on?"

"Whiskey and cigarettes."

The girl's foster mother, an SRS case manager, a sexual assault examiner, and the lead police detective also took the stand Thursday.

After prosecutors rested their case late in the afternoon, the judge asked defense attorneys if they planned to present evidence.  Stafford's attorney said up until that point, Stafford planned to take the stand in his own defense.  The attorney wanted to talk with his client before tomorrow morning to confirm that's still what he wanted.

Defense attorneys argue the girl's story has changed several times, even saying she hadn't been touched at all at one point.

Attorneys have also asked questions of witnesses indicating the girl made up the story because she didn't want to live with her mother anymore.  The girl had complained her mother drank alcohol every night, and she said mother often pulled her hair and passed out when she was drunk.

For a detailed account of all of Thursday's testimony, click on Eyewitness News Reporter Cliff Judy's Interactive Blog from the courtroom below.  Warning:  some testimony can be considered disturbing and/or graphic.