The mother of the accuser in Dr. Jon Van Cleave’s sexual assault trial did not immediately go to the police to report her son had allegedly been abused. “I don’t believe in the justice system,” she said yesterday. “In hindsight,
The mother of the accuser in Dr. Jon Van Cleave’s sexual assault trial did not immediately go to the police to report her son had allegedly been abused.
“I don’t believe in the justice system,” she said yesterday. “In hindsight, I feel I let him down.”
That revelation led to a string of others.
The mother said she did not go to the police because she wanted “incriminating e-mail” and money for her son’s education.
She said she was confused about how old her son was when the alleged assault took place Feb. 1, 2002, in Van Cleave’s office in Wailua. Her son’s age was clarified for the jury when deputy prosecuting attorney Ken Norelli showed a birth certificate stating the son was born May 2, 1988, in California.
On the stand and under oath, she said she did not allow her son to see the doctor after the alleged assault took place. However, she testified that Van Cleave and her son exchanged e-mail afterwards.
Some 58 e-mails were entered into evidence for the jury trial.
“I felt that Dr. Van Cleave made promises to David,” she said. “I wanted what was best for him.”
When asked by Norelli if a lightbulb ever went off in her head to go to the police, she claimed the doctor said he would send her son to a private school.
She said it had crossed her mind to go to the police. “I was torn,” she said.
The mother of six said her son was “traumatized” after the assault.
“He was very angry. He vacillated between being angry and calm,” she said.
She said she understood what he was feeling because she was abused herself.
Van Cleave’s attorney Michael Green asked her what happened when she was 12 years old. In response, she said she was sexually abused by a priest.
She also said when a daughter was 14, that daughter was involved in a relationship with a 34-year-old married man. She described the man as a “sexual predator.”
Green brought up a 2004 civil suit the parents of the accuser filed against the doctor.
“He gets convicted, you hit the jackpot,” said Green to the mother of the accuser.
“It’s not for puka shells,” she responded.
She said she wanted money for her son’s college education.
“I don’t want money for myself,” she said.
Green said she could not sue the man involved with her daughter.
“You could not collect from him because you knew the guy was broke,” said Green.
When asked by Green if she knew the doctor was rich, she replied, “I have no idea of his financial background.”
While on the stand, she said her son received envelopes containing $200 in cash from Van Cleave, and she testified she took her son to see a psychiatrist after the civil lawsuit was filed.
Under oath, she said she would not ask for medical advice from Van Cleave today.
The trial continues today in Circuit Judge Kathleen N.A. Watanabe’s courtroom.
• Cynthia Kaneshiro, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or ckaneshiro@kauaipubco.com.
