Women describe being sexually abused as girls

Women describe being sexually abused as girls

Prosecutors say New Miami man had sexual contact with five girls between 1989 and 2004.

October 16, 2008

Lauren Pack

HAMILTON — One by one, young women took the stand Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 15, and gave painful testimony about sexual abuse they say they suffered when just children at the hands of a New Miami man.

The trial against Kenneth Lee Ashcraft, 41, opened Wednesday before Butler County Common Pleas Judge Noah Powers.

"This defendant has never had to answer for his crimes to a judge or a jury, but that ends today," said assistant Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Jennifer McElfresh, who said the case involves five girls, who were ages 7 to 15, including one family member, over a span from 1989 to 2004.

During opening statements, McElfresh said Ashcraft had a series of relationships with young girls he'd asked to be his "girlfriend" and that he married a 14-year-old girl. He also proposed to another when she was 12 and he was in his 20s.

Defense attorney Lyn Cunningham asked the jury to have an open mind and not condemn Ashcraft on accusations alone.

"The evidence will show the truth about the women in this case," Cunningham said. "They have reason to lie about Kenny (Ashcraft)."

Cunningham pointed out some of the alleged victims, who are now women, have denied any wrongdoing by Ashcraft to authorities in the past.

One of the girls, a shaking and crying 16-year-old, paused often to collect her thoughts while she recounted being sexually abused by Ashcraft, who had lived in the same home as her. The abuse began with touching when she was 11 and 12, the teen said, and progressed to intercourse.

"I started sleeping in pants and a belt," the girl said.

The girl testified she did not tell anyone because she said Ashcraft said he would hurt her family. "He's crazy," she said. A 27-year-old woman took the stand and testified she met Ashcraft at the age of 11 when he was hanging out a house where her friend lived in Hamilton.

After about three weeks the relationship turned intimate. The woman said at the age of 11 and 12 she had intercourse and oral sex with Ashcraft. The sex acts occurred 20 or more times at Ashcraft's residence on Buckeye Street and in his van, she said.

During cross examination, the woman admitted she denied the abuse in the past.

A second woman cried as she told the jury about Ashcraft having intercourse with her in the front seat of a car after an outing at Hueston Woods in the summer of 1991. She was 10 years old.

The woman said she never told about the abuse because she did not want to break her hard-working mother's heart.

Ashcraft's trial is expected to continue through Friday.

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at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.