TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - The 14-year-old alleged victim of Timothy and Esten Ciboro returned to the witness stand Wednesday as the trial against the father and son accused raping and shackling the girl in their basement entered its third day.
She continued her testimony Wednesday about the alleged sexual torture at the hands of her step-father and step-brother.
The prosecution wrapped up their questioning in about two hours on Tuesday.
However, the defense's cross-examination was quite lengthy. It focused on what they tried to present as the good memories she had with them.
Esten Ciboro put an emphasis on transcripts and statements the girl gave to police. Both he and Timothy seemed frustrated by her inability to remember what she said to the police.
"When talking about going down to the basement, are you saying you don't remember or are you saying you didn't want to go?" Esten asked.
A prosecutor immediately objected saying, "You honor, I wanna object. All these questions have been asked and answered. He's just rephrasing it. She's clearly indicated she cannot remember the entire specific context of the conversation or specific statements."
The judge did make Esten move to another line of questioning in that instance.
Members of the jury looked visually frustrated with the length of the questioning.
The girl finished her testimony at about noon after more than seven hours of testimony.
The second victim, the 9-year-old biological daughter of Timothy Ciboro, took the stand later in the afternoon.
She began her testimony telling positive memories with her father and step-brother Esten. She said she loved running and playing games with them.
However, the testimony later took a darker tone when she described the alleged sexual abuse from the defendants.
She told the jury, she was forced to sleep with either Timothy or Esten nightly. She said she was forced to perform oral sex for her father Timothy and her step-brother Esten before nap time and bedtime. She said they also touched her inappropriately.
While describing the details of the alleged rape and how it made her feel, many in the courtroom were heard weeping and wiped away tears. The girl also wiped away tears from the witness stand.
During questioning from Timothy, she revealed to the jury she was forced to have intercourse with her father. She said sometimes she was allowed to keep her underwear on during the alleged sexual encounters.
Timothy called into question when she originally told prosecutors about the alleged rapes, trying to prove his daughter never talked about abuse in the past.
"So the first time you ever brought up touching you was to [prosecutor Jennifer Reed]?" Timothy asked his daughter. "Okay so, the first time you ever got, every brought up to anyone about you, anyone every touching you was you told to Ms. Reed. How long ago was that?"
She also testified that she often had to be the one to unlock her step-sister from the handcuffs that kept the teen chained in the basement. She also said her step-sister was forced to wear handcuffs outside the basement. The cuffs would often be attached to weights.
Her testimony was significantly shorter than her half-sister.
Both alleged victims were aided by Anna the comfort dog during their testimony. Anna's owner said she was proud how both the dog and the girls handled themselves while on the witness stand.
During the 9-year old's testimony, Timothy asked to fire his standby attorney. The attorney was stationed in the courtroom to step in and represent him if needed.
"Your honor, is it possible that, I have this called adviser council or shadow council, is it possible to fire him? For lack of help." Timothy asked the judge.
Judge Linda Jennings allowed the jury to take a break while she, the Ciboros and the attorneys talked about over the request. She ultimately denied the request and allowed the standby attorney to remain in the courtroom for the remainder of the trial.
A DNA expert testified after the 9-year-old victim.
The witness told the jury the now 14-year-old's DNA was found on the chains and handcuffs found in the basement. There was also a slight trace of Timothy's DNA as well.
Before court let out, Esten asked the judge to be allowed to add a witness to the witness list. However, the judge denied the request because the defense were supposed to have their witness list released by Friday.
