Fourth Accuser in Maxwell Trial Details Chilling Encounter with Epstein That Made Her Sick to Her Stomach
Friday marked the 10th day of the sex trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the alleged partner of Jeffrey Epstein in the serial sexual abuse of minors.
As the trial resumed in New York City, victim Annie Farmer took the witness stand. She was the fourth accuser to testify in Maxwell’s trial, The New York Times reported.
On the stand, Farmer recounted the first time she met Epstein in excruciating detail.
She said Epstein bought a plane ticket for her to fly to New York after Christmas in 1995. Farmer said she was attending high school in Arizona but her sister was working for Epstein at the time.
“She had said that Epstein was interested in possibly helping me with my education and this was one of the reasons that he was purchasing the ticket,” Farmer said, according to the Times.
She testified that Epstein seemed kind at first. He purchased tickets for the sisters to attend “The Phantom of the Opera” by themselves, which appeared to be an innocent gesture.
However, as her time in New York wore on, Farmer said, the encounters turned uncomfortable. The Times reported Farmer was particularly disturbed by one encounter with Epstein at the movies.
Farmer said Epstein put his hand on her armrest, stroked her hand and began to rub her foot and leg.
At the time, she described the encounter as “a little weird,” the Times reported. During her testimony, she revealed she was much more uncomfortable than she might have let on.
“I was very nervous and anxious,” Farmer said. “I was sick to my stomach.”
For Farmer to have felt physically ill during the encounter, she must have been extremely disturbed by Epstein’s actions.
After their first visit, Farmer said, she and Epstein talked on the phone a couple of times. In spring 1996, she said, he flew her to his New Mexico ranch. She was 16 at the time, according to the Times.
It was at this ranch that Farmer first met Maxwell, she testified. She described Maxwell as a “trim, attractive woman” with a British accent.
She testified that Maxwell and Epstein bought her a pair of boots and took her to a movie. Farmer said Epstein made similar moves to the previous encounter at the movies, but this instance was “more blatant.”
Farmer said Maxwell later goaded her into giving Epstein a barefoot massage, which made her uncomfortable.
On another occasion, she said, Maxwell instructed her to take her clothes off for a massage.
“She pulled the sheet down and exposed my breasts and started rubbing on my chest and on my upper breasts,” Farmer testified, according to the Times. “I was surprised. I wanted so badly to get off of the table.”
As more witnesses testify in the trial, the evidence paints a picture of Maxwell as anything but an innocent third party.
If the victims’ testimonies are true, Maxwell had a prominent role in luring girls in, grooming them for abuse and sometimes even violating them herself.
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