Doctor ‘Can’t Tell’ if Nine McMartin Pupils Molested

The only physician called by the defense in the McMartin Pre-School molestation trial testified after reviewing records on 11 alleged victims that medical evidence indicates two have been molested but is inconclusive or inconsistent for the other nine.

“I can’t tell either way,” Dr. David M. Paul of London testified at one point during 2 1/2 days of direct examination by defense counsel that ended Monday.

Prosecutors, who earlier called six physicians to testify, maintain that scarring and other physical signs of prior abuse are present in nine of the 11 children who have accused Ray Buckey or his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, of rape, sodomy, oral copulation and other criminal sexual acts.

However, Paul said that in his opinion there are “no reliable signs” to determine past sodomy, while a few indicators of past vaginal molestation are “fairly reliable.”

He took issue with some findings noted and preserved on anatomical slides by the prosecution’s key medical expert, Dr. Astrid Heger of County-USC Medical Center, but corroborated her findings on others.

Heger testified earlier that she found physical signs of abuse in eight of the 10 children she examined and that the medical histories given by the other two were consistent with abuse.

The 11th child was examined by two other physicians, both of whom found signs of possible sexual abuse.

Paul, a crusty Britisher who is coroner for the city of London and associated with the University of London Hospital, is to undergo cross-examination by Deputy Dist. Atty. Roger Gunson throughout this week.

Prosecutors began Monday afternoon by attempting to show that Paul is not familiar with recent research in the field of child sexual abuse, most of which has been done in this country.

Paul said an initial examination of the 2 1/2-year-old boy whose mother’s report to Manhattan Beach police triggered the nursery school investigation showed no signs “even consistent with sodomy” although medical signs noted in an exam five days later provide “affirmative evidence” that the child had suffered lesser sexual abuse.

He also said there was a “high probability” that a second child had been penetrated digitally. As for the others, he said, their examinations appear “entirely normal” or show abnormalities that may have what Paul termed “non-sinister” causes. Some may be congenital variations, the result of past infections, or conditions such as constipation or diarrhea, he explained.