By Tammy J. McCoy
The Press-Enterprise
October 6, 2008
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_sfoster07.32c1fc6.html
A foster child's account of being sexually assaulted at a Menifee home included details about male and female bodies that a 9-year-old girl typically would not otherwise know, a social services worker testified Monday.
Riverside County social services worker Vera Diaz interviewed the child and testified girls her age usually don't know about the very specific ways a man's body and a girl's body react to sexual intercourse unless that child was sexually abused.
However, Diaz later agreed the girl's experience of seeing her mother and another man engaged in sexual intercourse was not typical for a child.
Diaz's testimony was part of the prosecution's case during the trial of Joseph P. Billock, the child's former foster father who is charged with two counts of child rape. The 51-year-old Menifee man is an ordained minister with the Church of the Nazarene who faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted.
 |
| Joseph Patrick Billock |
The Press-Enterprise does not routinely publish the names of minors who could be victims of sexual abuse.
Prosecutor Burke Strunsky played a 2007 videotape recording for the jury, in which the girl tells Diaz that Billock had sexual contact with her in 2005. The child's description of specific areas of Billock's body is similar to that given by the defendant's wife, Wendy Billock.
Defense attorney Michael Pancer asked Diaz if she knew the child had seen her mother having sex with a man prior to the allegations she made about Billock.
Diaz, who has done more than 3,000 of these interviews, said she was unaware the girl had seen anything like that. She also said the girl could know about a body's response to sexual contact from watching X-rated movies. Diaz said she didn't ask the child if she had ever seen such films.
Lawyers on both sides agreed to play the recording for the jury and have the child's testimony read to the jury instead of making the girl testify again.
The girl testified earlier this year during Billock's first trial, which ended in March with a judge declaring a mistrial after jurors announced they were split 6-6 on a verdict.
On Monday, Billock sat at the counsel table in the courtroom with his head downward while the video played. He appeared to be writing on paper and occasionally spoke with his lawyer.
The girl told Diaz that Billock abused her in her bedroom and stopped when Wendy Billock announced from downstairs that dinner was ready.
Billock's wife and two other foster children were at the house at the time this happened, the girl told Diaz.
Pancer asked if it was less likely for a child to be abused when there are other people around.
"It doesn't make a difference," Diaz said.
There are cases where there are people in a room while a child is molested and the people in the room are unaware of it, Diaz said.
Testimony resumes today at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley.
Reach Tammy J. McCoy at 951-375-3729 or tmccoy@PE.com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.