Former Neverland Housekeeper and LA Weatherman Testify On The Stand

Kiki Fournier, a former Neverland housekeeper, testified as a witness yesterday for the prosecution in the trial against Michael Jackson. She was a reluctant to be a witness against her former employer claiming that she has nothing to do with this case. In her direct examination by prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss, she described children at the ranch “became wild” during their long stays without parent supervision. She also claimed that on about five times, children appeared to be “drunk”. She testified that she saw children that appeared to be intoxicated three or four times in Mr. Jackson’s presence. One of the incidents was when she served Mr. Jackson and his young guests dinner at the table. She claims at least three of them appeared to be intoxicated. However, she also testified that she never saw Mr. Jackson give alcohol to a minor nor did she ever remember that the entertainer was intoxicated in the presence of the children. She also claims she does not remember seeing the current teenage accuser or his siblings intoxicated at the ranch. She also testified that if children stayed long, they would often sleep in Mr. Jackson’s private quarters of his home rather than the guest rooms that were initially assigned to them. "The beds weren't slept in when you went to clear the room," she said. Ms. Fournier, who worked for Mr. Jackson for ten years before her departure in September 2003, testified that Mr. Jackson paid particular attention to boys who’s ages range from 10 and 15 years old, including actor Macauley Culkin and the current accuser and his brother. The former housekeeper referred to Neverland as “Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island” due to the atmosphere at the ranch where she claims children stayed for weeks at a time without their parents and were giving “free reign” of the ranch. "With the absence of authority figures, these children became wild," Fournier said. She testified that the children were allowed to watch movies, eat all the candy they wanted and were allowed to stay up as late as they wanted. She said that the children often became “pretty rambunctious”. However, under cross-examination by lead defense attorney Thomas Messereau, she testified that she never saw Mr. Jackson serve alcohol to minors. She also said if the children got “too rowdy”, Mr. Jackson would tell them to “behave”. She also believes the accuser and his brother stayed in their assigned guest rooms instead of Mr. Jackson’s living quarters during the timeline of February and March 2003. This is the time Mr. Jackson is charged with molesting the teenage boy. She thought that the accuser and his brother stayed in their assigned guest room because when she would clean up the room, it was torn apart with garbage and food strewn about, drinks spilled and glasses broken. During her testimony, she claims that the accuser’s brother became “ornery” and demanding and once pulled a knife on her while the two of them were in the kitchen and the boy was trying to cook. She did not say what led to the knife-pulling incident or how it was resolved. Mr. Mesereau also asked whether, given that Neverland was designed to be a fantasy land for children, would it be surprising that the children "would go a little wild." "No, that would not be unusual," she said. She also described Mr. Jackson as a “detail oriented” person who usually communicated with her through the ranch manager, but on occasion would communicate directly with her. When asked by the prosecution to describe the relationship between Mr. Jackson and one of the alleged unindicted co-conspirators, she said that they were close friends. She said that Mr. Tyson would stay at the ranch for a month at a time, although there would be gaps of six months between stays. Under cross-examination by Mr. Mesereau, she admitted that what she knew of Mr. Tyson’s business relationship with Mr. Jackson came from Mr. Tyson. When Mr. Messereau suggested that he might have exaggerated the extent of his relationship with the entertainer to promote himself, she agreed that he was egotistical. Mr. Tyson is one of the alleged unindicted co-conspirators that the prosecution claims that helped intimidate and silence the accusing family. In the family’s testimony, they claim that Frank showed the boys pornographic sites over the Internet, while Mr. Jackson was in the room during their first overnight stay at the ranch. The indictment also alleges that Jackson paid Tyson $1 million on March 31, 2003 -- about two weeks after the accuser and his family left Neverland for the final time. Another witness in the case today testified that he met the accuser and his family during a comedy camp for disadvantaged children in 1999 at a Los Angeles comedy club called the Laugh Factory where he was an instructor. Fritz Coleman, a Los Angeles weatherman for KNBC and part-time comedian described the accusing family’s children as “personable, polite and charismatic.” He testified that he and another comedian, Louise Palanker, delivered Christmas presents to the family at their “very small” apartment in a low-income area of East Los Angeles, so that the children could have a Christmas. He said that one time in 2000 when the accuser became ill with cancer, he visited him in the hospital. On his last visit at the hospital, the boy was beaming because he got a huge box of gifts from the entertainer. Mr. Coleman said when the Laugh Factory decided to throw a benefit for the family, he made an announcement about the event on KNBC, but he wasn't involved in putting the benefit together. He also claims he had met the boy's mother only three times, and she never tried to solicit money from him. He heard of conversations around the comedy club about the boy's father soliciting money from celebrities, but the father had never asked him directly for money. Sources: CNN/MJJF/eMJey