2nd McMartin Child Alleges Sexual Abuse at Preschool

The second child witness to testify against seven McMartin Pre-School teachers charged with molesting pupils at the school said without hesitation Wednesday that he and others were sexually abused and threatened with violence.

The 10-year-old boy, recalling events that allegedly occurred six years ago when he attended the Manhattan Beach nursery school, also said the defendants took youngsters to a church where animals were slaughtered on the altar.

He told of how defendant Raymond Buckey, 26, once slashed the ears from a live rabbit in front of the children who were told: “This would happen to your parents if you told any of the secrets.”

“Why didn’t you tell your parents?” Deputy Dist. Atty. Christine Johnston asked the boy.

“Because I was scared my parents would be hurt if I told them the secrets,” the boy replied.

The boy also described in graphic detail of how he was sexually abused and said some students were bleeding after various nude games.

The boy said Buckey taught the students how “to touch,” saying: “Sometimes he would take our hands and show us where they go.”

On one such occasion, the boy said, he watched Buckey having intercourse with Buckey’s sister, Peggy Ann Buckey, another defendant in the case.

He also said that he had seen several teachers naked, including Buckey and his sister and a teacher who, he said, he had been told to touch on the breast.

He also said that the students were told what to do if someone else came to the school during a “naked game.”

“If anyone ever came to school and we were in the middle of a game,” he testified, “we were to hurry and put our clothes on.”

Reacting outside the courtroom, defense attorney Eliseo D.W. Gauna called the testimony “crazy” and “ridiculous.”

The fourth-grader, echoing much of what the first child witness said, provided more details of alleged “naked games” organized by the defendants.

The boy said during the preliminary hearing that during a “tickle” game, “we’d have our clothes off and they would tickle us.”

Describing the “naked movie star” game, the boy said: “We would walk around naked in a circle and there would be music and people would take our pictures.”

He said another nude game called “cowboys and Indians” was frequently played at the nursery school and would start outside while the participants were clothed.

“If they caught us, they would bring us inside the classroom and they would take our clothes off and tie us up,” the boy said.

The first child witness began testimony Jan. 22 and was excused Tuesday after 23 hours of sometimes inconsistent testimony. That 7-year-old boy, however, stuck to his story that he and other students were molested and photographed at the school.

Also charged in the case with Buckey are school owner Virginia McMartin, 77, Peggy McMartin Buckey, 58, Peggy Ann Buckey, 28, Betty Raidor, 65, Mary Ann Jackson, 57, and Babette Spitler, 36.

The seven defendants are charged with 208 counts of molestation and conspiracy involving 41 children at the school since 1978 and are in the sixth month of their combined preliminary hearing to determine if they should stand trial.

The public and news media are barred from the courtroom but can watch the testimony from a nearby room via closed-circuit television. The preliminary hearing, to determine whether the defendants should stand trial, is expected to last several more months.