http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/112497/2a5karat.html
Published Monday, November 24, 1997
Recovery is slow for boy abused 11/23/97
By The Times-Union
Monday, November 24, 1997Story last updated at 11:21 p.m. on Sunday, November 23, 1997
Recovery is slow for boy abused
By Allison Thompson
Times-Union staff writer
A Ponte Vedra Beach boy thought the worst was over when he accused a karate instructor of molesting him several times in 1995.
But after having to retell his story, then watching a St. Johns County jury acquit the instructor this year, he realized his nightmare wasn't over.
''I used to lay in my bed at night and not want to go to sleep because I thought he was right outside my window,'' said the boy, now 14.
Now the instructor is serving a life sentence in another case. He was convicted in Central Florida partly on the strength of the Ponte Vedra boy's testimony. And the boy and his mother are beginning the painful process of piecing their lives back together.
Last year, the boy told his mother and police a teacher at Bill Clark's ATA Black Belt Academy had assaulted him at two Ponte Vedra homes and during a trip to a karate tournament in the Orlando area the previous October. As the boy slept in a Kissimmee hotel room, a man put his hand down the boy's pants and performed oral sex on him.
The boy's name is being withheld because the Times-Union normally does not publish the names of sexual assault victims.
An 11-year-old boy also told authorities the man, Alexander Goolsby, 23, molested him during the trip.
Goolsby was charged with lewd and lascivious assault on a child in the Ponte Vedra attacks. But in March, a jury acquitted him.
When the trial ended, Goolsby was sent to Osceola County to face charges in the tournament assaults. Last month, he was convicted in the 11-year-old's case of three counts of capital sexual battery and one count of committing a lewd act with a child, said Assistant State Attorney Mimi Smith. The judge sentenced Goolsby to life in prison.
Though Goolsby hasn't been tried in the Kissimmee assault against the Ponte Vedra boy, Smith said his testimony helped convict Goolsby. Smith hopes to work out the case involving the boy without going to trial again. Assistant Public Defender Don Waggoner said Goolsby likely will plead no contest to the charges related to the Ponte Vedra boy.
During the trial, Goolsby denied molesting the two boys and said he didn't know why they would say he did, Smith said. Goolsby continues to maintain his innocence and is appealing his conviction, Waggoner said.
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The Florida Times-Union - November 24, 1997
Recovery is slow for boy abused
A Ponte Vedra Beach boy thought the worst was over when he accused a karate instructor of molesting him several times in 1995. But after having to retell his story, then watching a St. Johns County jury acquit the instructor this year, he realized his nightmare wasn't over." I used to lay in my bed at night and not want to go to sleep because I thought he was right outside my window," said the boy, now 14. Now the instructor is serving a life sentence in another case. He was...
Purchase Complete Article, of 383 words
Published Monday, November 24, 1997
Recovery is slow for boy abused 11/23/97
By The Times-Union
Monday, November 24, 1997Story last updated at 11:21 p.m. on Sunday, November 23, 1997
Recovery is slow for boy abused
By Allison Thompson
Times-Union staff writer
A Ponte Vedra Beach boy thought the worst was over when he accused a karate instructor of molesting him several times in 1995.
But after having to retell his story, then watching a St. Johns County jury acquit the instructor this year, he realized his nightmare wasn't over.
''I used to lay in my bed at night and not want to go to sleep because I thought he was right outside my window,'' said the boy, now 14.
Now the instructor is serving a life sentence in another case. He was convicted in Central Florida partly on the strength of the Ponte Vedra boy's testimony. And the boy and his mother are beginning the painful process of piecing their lives back together.
Last year, the boy told his mother and police a teacher at Bill Clark's ATA Black Belt Academy had assaulted him at two Ponte Vedra homes and during a trip to a karate tournament in the Orlando area the previous October. As the boy slept in a Kissimmee hotel room, a man put his hand down the boy's pants and performed oral sex on him.
The boy's name is being withheld because the Times-Union normally does not publish the names of sexual assault victims.
An 11-year-old boy also told authorities the man, Alexander Goolsby, 23, molested him during the trip.
Goolsby was charged with lewd and lascivious assault on a child in the Ponte Vedra attacks. But in March, a jury acquitted him.
When the trial ended, Goolsby was sent to Osceola County to face charges in the tournament assaults. Last month, he was convicted in the 11-year-old's case of three counts of capital sexual battery and one count of committing a lewd act with a child, said Assistant State Attorney Mimi Smith. The judge sentenced Goolsby to life in prison.
Though Goolsby hasn't been tried in the Kissimmee assault against the Ponte Vedra boy, Smith said his testimony helped convict Goolsby. Smith hopes to work out the case involving the boy without going to trial again. Assistant Public Defender Don Waggoner said Goolsby likely will plead no contest to the charges related to the Ponte Vedra boy.
During the trial, Goolsby denied molesting the two boys and said he didn't know why they would say he did, Smith said. Goolsby continues to maintain his innocence and is appealing his conviction, Waggoner said.
This site, and all its content,
© The Florida Times-Union 1997
------
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=list&p_topdoc=281&d_sources=location
The Florida Times-Union - November 24, 1997
Recovery is slow for boy abused
A Ponte Vedra Beach boy thought the worst was over when he accused a karate instructor of molesting him several times in 1995. But after having to retell his story, then watching a St. Johns County jury acquit the instructor this year, he realized his nightmare wasn't over." I used to lay in my bed at night and not want to go to sleep because I thought he was right outside my window," said the boy, now 14. Now the instructor is serving a life sentence in another case. He was...
Purchase Complete Article, of 383 words