Jackson Did Not Touch Me, Boy Told Teacher

The teenage accuser at the centre of the Michael Jackson child molestation trial admitted to the court yesterday that he had told a teacher that the singer had not touched him.

Under cross-examination by Thomas Mesereau, Mr Jackson's attorney, Gavin Arvizo, now 15, said, "I told Mr [Jeffrey] Alpert he never did anything to me."

The admission came as the defence continued to attack the boy's credibility and tried to pinpoint inconsistencies in his testimony to the California court last week.

In cross-examination, Mr Mesereau quoted from an interview with the John Burroughs middle school teacher conducted at the weekend. Mr Alpert allegedly told the boy: "I can't help you if you don't tell me [what happened]." The boy confirmed he had answered that nothing had happened.

ABC News yesterday reported that the conversation took place in spring 2003, after the screening of the documentary Living With Michael Jackson and in the time period in which the molestation allegedly occurred, but before the singer was indicted.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Jackson, 46, molested the boy at his Neverland ranch, plying him with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment. He denies the charges.

Mr Mesereau suggested that testimony the boy gave last week, when he said that Mr Jackson had told him that men who do not masturbate might rape women, was actually attributable to the boy's grandmother. Mr Mesereau said that in an interview with sheriffs, the boy said his grandmother had told him the same thing.

"Why did your story change between that interview and your testimony last Thursday?" Mr Mesereau asked.

"It didn't change because Michael tried to explain it to me first," the witness answered. "She was telling me it was OK to do it and Michael was saying you have to do it."