SANTA MARIA, California - The boy who accused Michael Jackson of sex abuse told jurors Thursday that his mother feared for her children's lives at the star's Neverland Ranch.
Giving some of the most crucial testimony of the superstar's trial, the now 15-year-old youth said that his mother became fearful during the family's final stay at the fantasy-style ranch in early 2003.
"She was scared," the youngster said from the witness stand. "She told me that she was afraid they were going to kill us and that she wanted to leave," he said without specifying who his mother was scared of.
Jackson is charged with 10 counts, including molesting the then 13-year-old boy, plying him with alcohol to seduce him and allegedly conspiring to kidnap him and his family and hold them prisoner at Neverland.
Prosecutors allege that Jackson and five aides, who have not been charged in the case, held the family prisoner in February or March of 2003 until they agreed to make a video exonerating the star from any suggestion of child abuse.
The star has denied all the charges and maintains that the boy's mother was a professional litigator who coached her children to lie in order to win cash settlements in a string of earlier lawsuits.
03/10/2005 19:43 GMT