Published January 13, 2015
Two mothers testified at Michael Jackson's (search) trial that they trusted the singer enough to let their sons sleep in his bed and were convinced that no molestation ever occurred.
Joy Robson (search) and Marie Lisbeth Barnes (search) praised Jackson from the witness stand Friday.
"I've known Michael for a long time. I've spent many hours talking to him about everything. I feel like he's a member of my family. I trust him. I trust him with my children," said Robson, whose 22-year-old son, Wade Robson (search), told jurors earlier that he was never molested by Jackson.
"He's a very special person," she added. "He's not the boy next door. He's Michael Jackson. He's very unique. He has a very pure personality. To know him is to love him and to trust him."
Barnes also used the word trust in her statement. Her son, Brett Barnes, testified Thursday that nothing improper happened when he shared Jackson's bed.
"I trusted him implicitly," she said of Jackson. "He's a very nice person. You just know when you can trust someone."
Robson was critical of the mother of a boy who accused Jackson of molestation in 1993 and received a multimillion-dollar settlement from the singer. Robson said she had been at Jackson's Neverland ranch with the boy and his mother but spoke to them only a few times.
"My impression of (the mother) is she wanted to be mistress of Neverland," she said. "She would order the staff around like she owned it. My impression of (her) is she was a gold-digger."
Under cross-examination, District Attorney Tom Sneddon (search) then asked whether Robson was jealous of the woman "because she replaced you."
"Absolutely not," the witness replied.
Sneddon also suggested that Robson ingratiated herself with Jackson because she thought he could help her son get into show business. Robson denied that.
Asked by Sneddon if she recalled being upset on Mother's Day 1990 because she didn't see her son all day and then found out he had been sleeping, she said yes.
But when the prosecutor asked if she remembered telling a member of the Neverland staff that she thought Jackson was separating her from her son, she said no.
Robson's daughter, Chantal Robson, testified that she slept in Jackson's room with her brother four times as a child. She said she saw Jackson hug children and kiss them on the cheek, but she never saw anything of a sexual nature.
She and her mother acknowledged Jackson was helpful to the family when they came to the United States from Australia, paying a balance on their car and lending them $10,000, which was never repaid.
Prosecutors claim Jackson has used gifts to gain the compliance of the mothers of some boys.
Barnes, who is from Melbourne, Australia, said she and her family got to know Jackson after her son wrote him a letter. She said she allowed her son to travel around the world with Jackson on a tour because she believed it would be a learning experience.
Brett Barnes' sister, Karlee Barnes, testified that Jackson had flown her and her family from Australia to testify at the trial and they were staying at Neverland.
Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 2003, giving him wine and conspiring to hold the boy and his family captive so they would rebut a damaging documentary in which Jackson said he let children sleep in his bed.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/moms-jackos-behavior-not-inappropriate