Jackson Fooled Us, Says Mother

The mother of a teenage boy allegedly molested by Michael Jackson told a court the singer "managed to fool the world", as she spent a fourth day on the witness stand being cross-examined by Mr Jackson's lead lawyer, Thomas Mesereau.

As the trial entered its eighth week, the testy and sparky mood of recent days continued with Janet Arvizo clashing repeatedly with Mr Mesereau.

At one point, she said of the 46-year-old singer: "He really didn't care about children. He just cared about what he was doing with the children. He's managed to fool the world and I was just one woman inside of that. What he puts out to the world is not who he really is. Now, because of this criminal case, people know who he really is."

Her comments came in response to questions from Mr Mesereau about a police interview she gave in which she noted that despite Mr Jackson's wealth he had not hired a tutor for her son during the time they spent together. Mr Jackson's aides allegedly removed the woman's three children from their school after the broadcast of the Martin Bashir documentary Living With Michael Jackson.

Mr Jackson is accused of molesting the woman's elder son, of administering alcohol to a minor to further a crime, and of conspiracy involving kidnapping, extortion and illegal imprisonment. If found guilty he faces up to 20 years in jail.

It is alleged that he and unnamed co-conspirators held the Arvizo family against their will until they had agreed to take part in a video to rebut allegations made in the documentary.

In that programme, Mr Jackson was seen holding hands with the then 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo as the singer discussed his practice of sharing his bed with children. The prosecution alleges that the abuse took place in the days after the transmission of the documentary.

Last week Ms Arvizo testified that she had seen Mr Jackson licking her son's head on a flight from Miami to California. Yesterday Mr Mesereau asked her how many times she had allowed her son to stay with Mr Jackson after that alleged incident.

"That was poor judgment on my part," she said.

He also asked her about a disability claim she made in the 1990s, citing depression, in which she said she was "sad about being a nobody".

"I'm still a nobody," she told the jury repeatedly.

Mr Mesereau frequently asked the judge to strike Ms Arvizo's comments from the record. He also repeated his urgings of last week for the witness to answer the questions.

Ms Arvizo has exasperated both defence and prosecution lawyers with rambling answers to their questions.