Young witness describes 'nasty stuff' by accuser

Michael Jackson's 12-year-old cousin told jurors on Wednesday he saw the pop star's accuser openly masturbating with his younger brother at Neverland Valley Ranch as they watched naked women on television.

"I saw them go to the TV, turn to a channel that had naked girls, and they did nasty stuff," Rijo Jackson testified at his famous cousin's child molestation trial. Asked by lead defence attorney Tom Mesereau what he meant by "nasty stuff," the boy replied that he saw the pair masturbating.

"They said why didn't I do that, and I said I didn't want to because it was nasty," added the boy, who was 10 at the time.

Mr Jackson is charged with molesting his accuser, then 13, at Neverland in February or March of 2003, furnishing the recovering cancer patient with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.

Rijo Jackson, who came to court dressed in a grey suit and pink tie and sported a pony tail that fell almost to his waist, said he saw the accuser and his brother masturbating while spending a single night in the same guest unit with them in February or March of 2003.

He also said he saw the two boys steal money from a chef. Rijo Jackson said he saw the boys take wine by themselves to the sleeping-area in Mr Jackson's bedroom. Rijo's elder sister, Simone Jackson, in testimony on Tuesday, said she saw the boys steal wine from the kitchen at Neverland.

Under cross examination by prosecuting attorneys, Rijo Jackson admitted that on the occasion of the alleged wine stealing he ended up going to bed with Mr Jackson. He was 10 at the time.

It was the singer's practice of sleeping with young boys, which he admitted in a now infamous documentary aired in Britain and the United States, that led to him being charged with child molestation.

The accuser testified that Mr Jackson introduced him to wine, pornography and masturbation. He and his brother denied drinking when he was not around.

Mr Jackson's defence team is attempting to discredit testimony from the accuser and his family by painting the mother as a grifter out to get money from the entertainer and the boys as youngsters who drank, stole and ran wild while they were at Neverland.

The younger Mr Jackson's testimony came as defence lawyers said that they were nearing the end of their case after less than three weeks of testimony.

"We have pared down our witness list even more since yesterday," defence lawyer Robert Sanger assured Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville after he expressed concern that jurors may have to sit through several more weeks of a trial that began on January 31.

Mr Jackson spokeswoman Raymone Bain said lawyers for the 46-year-old singer had not decided whether he would testify in his own defence, but pledged that the jury would hear from talk-show host Jay Leno and comedian Chris Tucker. She declined to say if the defence was still planning to call film legend Elizabeth Taylor to the witness stand.

Judge Melville said he would hold a hearing to determine if talk-show host Larry King could testify for the defence.