Forgot Details of Abuse, Girl Tells McMartin Trial

The first alleged child victim to testify in the McMartin Pre-School molestation trial repeatedly said Tuesday that she could not recall details about being sexually abused.

“I don’t remember,” the 12-year-old girl replied over and over while being pressed for details about the alleged molestations by defense attorney Dean Gits during her second day on the witness stand.

On Monday, the girl testified that two former preschool teachers, Ray Buckey, 29, and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, 60, molested her while she was a student at the school from 1977 through 1980 and made her and other students undress so that they could be secretly photographed while playing the “naked movie star” game.

But defense attorneys for the Buckeys have long argued that alleged victims in the case were manipulated into making up the allegations by social workers, employed by authorities, who used overly suggestive interviewing techniques.

School Closed

The Buckeys are being tried on one count of conspiracy and 99 counts of molestation for allegedly sexually abusing the girl and 13 other pupils at the now-closed Virginia McMartin Pre-School in Manhattan Beach.

“As best as you can, tell me how it was that Peggy touched you on your vagina?” asked Gits, who represents Peggy Buckey.

“I don’t remember,” the girl replied.

“Just a real quick pat?” Gits asked.

“I don’t remember,” the child said.

“Was anything said to you when she patted you on the outside of your vagina?” the attorney continued.

“I don’t remember,” the girl responded.

“When she did that to you, did she do it to any other kids?” Gits asked.

“I don’t remember,” the girl answered.

The girl also said that she could not recall if Peggy Buckey touched her vagina more than once, if the Buckeys conversed with each other during “naked movie star” or if the teachers spoke with a photographer who was allegedly taking pictures of the naked children.

The girl further testified that she did not remember if there was any soreness in her vagina when she attended the preschool or if school founder Virginia McMartin--whom she accused Monday of sometimes being present during “naked movie star”--spoke with the children or with Peggy Buckey or Ray Buckey during the game.

Virginia McMartin, Ray Buckey’s grandmother and Peggy Buckey’s mother, was an original defendant in the case, but all charges were dismissed against her in January, 1986, for lack of evidence.

The Buckeys and five co-defendants, including Virginia McMartin, were initially charged with more than 200 molestation acts stemming from alleged sexual assaults on 42 of their pupils.

But hundreds of charges were dismissed at a preliminary hearing, and in January, 1986, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner dismissed all charges against the five co-defendants, saying evidence against them was “incredibly weak.”