Jurors to eye abuse charge
By John Joyce
Published in News on March 6, 2015 1:46 PM
Monica Calloway does not believe that her husband, Chad, sexually abused her daughter.
Diamond Coley Smith's mother testified on behalf of the defense Thursday in a trial stemming from allegations that a former Goldsboro police captain had a sexual relationship with his stepdaughter from the time she was 9 years old until she was 15.
But Mrs. Smith was not the only witness she said was lying.
She also claimed that the family pastor who counseled her daughter after the allegations were made said she was "fine" -- and that the State Bureau of Investigation misrepresented statements she made about the lease she signed when she and her children moved out of Calloway's home for a year after the alleged abuse took place.
The defense rested its case Thursday and a jury could, today, be asked to determine whether or not the state proved that Calloway is guilty of the many sex crimes he has been charged with.
Attorney Geoff Hulse called several character witnesses and one expert, local urologist Dr. Mark Lafave, to the stand, before Mrs. Calloway backed up her husband's claim that he did nothing wrong.
But during cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Overton pressed the woman about the meeting she set up between her daughter and the family pastor, Dr. William A. Mitchell Jr. at Greater St. John Free Will Baptist Church in Dudley.
"He said Diamond was fine," Mrs. Calloway said. "I took that to mean it didn't happen."
Mrs. Overton was not satisfied.
She pressed the witness -- stating that her daughter was 15 at the time and had just alleged that her stepfather was sexually abusing her. And she asked Mrs. Calloway why she did not seek more information from the pastor about the meeting.
Mrs. Calloway maintained she thought the meeting was confidential -- and later testified that she moved out of the home she shared with her husband because they were not getting along, not because of any alleged abuse.
The woman also told the court that the abuse allegations had nothing to do with her taking her 15-year-old daughter to the health department to be put on birth control -- that she did it to ensure her daughter did not make the same mistake she did. Mrs. Calloway got pregnant at 16.
The trial was scheduled to resume this morning at 10:30 a.m.
Should the case go before the jury today, its verdict, if reached, will be posted on NewsArgus.com