Cousin of La Habra Boy’s Killer Tells Jurors of Similar Attack

The teenage cousin of a drifter convicted of molesting, killing and dismembering a La Habra boy testified Wednesday that John Samuel Ghobrial savagely attacked him several years ago when the killer was still living in Egypt.

Seeking to establish a pattern in Ghobrial’s behavior, prosecutors brought the cousin and his mother from Egypt to tell his story on the first day of the trial’s penalty phase.

The witness said that during a family wedding in the early 1990s, Ghobrial lured the boy--then 6--to a secluded area, then severely beat, stabbed and attempted to rape him.

Egyptian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Ghobrial after the boy reported the incident, but U.S. immigration officials apparently weren’t aware of it when they granted him religious asylum. Ghobrial claimed he was a Coptic Christian persecuted by Muslims. He said he lost an arm because a mob pushed him under a train.

Eventually, Ghobrial landed in La Habra, where he rented a backyard shed and was known for giving candy to neighborhood kids. He struck up a friendship with 12-year-old Juan Delgado. A jury on Tuesday convicted Ghobrial of molesting Juan before killing him and trying to dispose of his body by encasing parts in concrete chunks. Neighbors became suspicious when they saw some of the concrete leaking blood.

In testimony translated from Arabic, Ghobrial’s 16-year-old cousin told jurors Wednesday that he nearly suffered the same fate a decade earlier in Egypt.

Ghobrial was attending the wedding of the boy’s sister when he lured the boy with candy and took him to a nearby school, the witness said. Ghobrial attempted to rape him, but, the cousin said, he refused to take off his clothes. Ghobrial then tied him up, stabbed him and stomped on his head until the boy lost consciousness, he said.

“He boxed me,” said the slender teen, referring to the numerous punches he received. “And then he opened a switchblade and worked on me.”

At one point during his testimony, the teen removed his shirt for the jury, revealing stab wounds on his hands, shoulders, chest and abdomen. He said it took years to recover from the attack and that the injuries to his jaw make it difficult to speak.

The jury will decide whether Ghobrial should get the death penalty for Juan Delgado’s murder.

Ghobrial’s attorney said the jury should treat her client with leniency because he suffers from schizophrenia.

“He has extreme mood swings that manifested into anger and sometimes into violence,” Assistant Public Defender Denise Gragg told the jury. “His actions are uncontrollable. His choices that he made throughout his lifetime is with a physically deformed brain.”

She said Ghobrial’s mental problems began at age 7 when his father beat him on the head with a table.

His symptoms worsened as he got older, Gragg said. He’d dig for hours, thinking gold was buried in the family’s yard, she said.

Several experts testified about Ghobrial’s mental health. Some said he appeared to be very ill, while others said they thought he was faking his symptoms.

Also taking the stand Wednesday were Juan’s parents, who said through a Spanish interpreter that their lives have been miserable since his death.

Margarita Delgado, tears streaming down her cheeks, said that her son’s death has also affected his siblings. Their grades have dropped tremendously, she said, and they’ve become angry and rebellious against her.

She described Juan as a restless child who liked to help mow neighbors’ lawns, wash cars and take out trash for a couple of bucks. The mother had to leave the stand after being overcome with emotion.

“I miss him a lot,” said Juan’s father, Jose Delgado, a truck driver. “I feel that wherever I go, I feel bitter because I wasn’t able to be there the day this happened to defend him.”