WICHITA — A 7-year-old girl took the stand Thursday morning and said her mother took her to a man's house to have sex with him for money she used to buy "whiskey and cigarettes."
Reggie Stafford, 51, and the girl's mother are on trial on multiple counts of rape, sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The mother is not being named so as not to identify the girl.
Under Jessica's Law, which was enacted in 2006, they could each face up to three life sentences if they are convicted on all counts.
Prosecutor Shannon Wilson guided the girl through her testimony, asking questions to which the child could answer yes or no or provide one-word answers.
Wilson had the girl look at anatomically correct pictures of a girl and a grown man. The prosecutor had the girl identify body parts, such as knees, eyes and mouth, and also the sex organs which the girl called "privates."
The girl answered "yes" to questions about her mother taking her to Stafford's house on more than one occasion.
Each time, the girl said Stafford touched her genitals and had sex with her.
Wilson asked: Did it make you feel happy, mad, or something else?
"Mad," the girl answered.
The girl said she told that to her mother and Stafford. Neither made it stop, she said.
Earlier in the day, a former foster mother testified that the girl, who was in her care after being removed from the house, told her she had been abused.
Joyce White Dechant said the girl told her that she had been "touched" and "bothered" by a man named "Reggie."
White said the girl had lived with her about four months, since July 2007, when she noticed the child rubbing her vagina in the bathtub. White's foster parent training suggested this could be a sign of abuse. White asked the girl about it but said the child hung her head and wouldn't speak.
After the bath, White said the girl told her: "Grandma, someone has bothered me."
White testified she allowed her foster children to call her either by her first name or "grandma." This girl chose "grandma."
Read the full story at Kansas.com.
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