This was published 2 years ago
‘Domicile of Debauchery’: jurors shown Epstein’s nude photos, massage table, sex toys
By Patricia Hurtado and Mary Biekert
New York: Jurors in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial were shown video of Jeffrey Epstein’s Florida mansion as well as what prosecutors described as sexually suggestive photographs of very young girls the financier used as decorations.
Manhattan federal prosecutors on Friday entered into evidence a 2005 videotape made by the Palm Beach police as part of an investigation into Epstein’s alleged sexual abuse of underage girls. Maxwell is charged with trafficking girls for abuse by Epstein and participating in some of the assaults herself.
Ghislaine Maxwell is seated at the defence table while watching testimony of witnesses during her trial in New York on Tuesday, November 30. Credit: AP
The monitors showing the video were turned so that the jurors could see them but not press or public spectators in the courtroom. Defence lawyer Bobbi Sternheim later argued that keeping most of the footage secret gave the impression that it depicted “a domicile of debauchery”. US District Judge Alison Nathan agreed, and ordered it released, with images of very young children redacted.
The images of children were from photographs in Epstein’s house that were also shown to jurors. Prosecutors said the photos were prominently displayed - including one right outside the bedroom the couple shared when Maxwell was his girlfriend.
“In order to get into that room, you had to get by a sexually suggestive photograph of a very young girl,” Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey said at a hearing earlier on Friday. She said another photo in the house showed a toddler walking toward a naked adult while another depicted Epstein pulling down a very young girl’s underwear and trying to bite her exposed bottom
Comey said the pictures’ prominent display showed Maxwell was well aware of her ex-boyfriend’s sexual proclivities and not, as her lawyers have suggested, blinded by his wealth and connections.
“The fact that there is a sexualised photograph of a clearly underaged female is highly probative,” and “directly contradicts” the defence’s argument that “Mr Epstein was some upstanding citizen surrounded by presidents and all kinds of other prominent people”.
The judge rejected the renewed argument from defence lawyer Christian Everdell, who called the photos “playful” and similar to those parents take of their children. Everdell said at least one of the photos showed the daughter of a close family friend.
“This invites the jury to make assumptions,” the defence lawyer said.
Nathan said she’d instruct jurors that the photos showed “very young minors” and that neither Maxwell nor Epstein have been accused of any illicit activity involving children of that age. “Jane,” a witness who testified on Tuesday and Wednesday, said she was 14 when Epstein and Maxwell began abusing her.
A police officer testified that investigators also seized records, computers and sex toys — a photo of which was shown to the jury — from the residence.
The video shown on Friday came from an investigation launched after the mother of one 14-year-old complained that Epstein had paid his daughter for a massage. The state prosecutor subsequently declined to bring charges and Miami federal prosecutor Alexander Acosta negotiated a 2008 non-prosecution agreement that saw Epstein spend only 13 months in jail.
A green, folding massage table used by Epstein was brought into the courtroom on Saturday AEDT and set up in front of the jury.
The theatrical flourish, courtesy of an investigator wearing rubber gloves, was meant to corroborate testimony from “Jane” alleging massages were used as a pretense for the sexual encounters with Epstein that sometimes included Maxwell.
In this sketch, a prosecution detective, left, shows a massage table recovered from Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach Beach home to witness and former Palm Beach Police Officer Gregory Parkinson, right, during testimony in the sex-abuse trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, Friday Dec. 3, 2021, in New York. Credit: Elizabeth Williams via AP
Earlier this week, she described seeing a massage table in a “massage room” located off the main bedroom Epstein shared with Maxwell in his Florida mansion.
The accuser testified earlier that when she first visited the Epstein home she was disturbed by “some paintings of, like, naked women or half-naked women”. In the massage room leading off from a master bedroom Epstein and Maxwell shared, the pair were “showing me, you know, what he likes, what — you know, what men like, what women like”.
Bloomberg, AP
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.