Friday, January 08, 1999
Suspect denies rape in Kings Island case
BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — A night of outdoor dancing with friends at Paramount's Kings Island this fall turned tragic for a 15-year-old girl, who testified Thursday she was raped by a park employee who said he could show her a quick exit.
But Arica Underwood, defense attorney for James H. Bennett, told a Warren County jury that the girl, now 16, joined her client for consensual sex after a dance party at the park.
“They got busted,” Mrs. Underwood said. “Obviously that was embarrassing.”
Mr. Bennett, 20, is on trial before Warren County Common Pleas Court Judge Neal B. Bronson on charges of rape and kidnapping.
Because of the sexual nature of the allegations and because the girl is a minor, The Cincinnati Enquirer is not identifying her.
During the first day of testimony, the girl said she had no idea where Mr. Bennett was taking her as he led her to what he called a quick exit.
The two had run into each other about 1 a.m. Aug. 8 in a crowd moving toward the exit of the park, which had stayed open three extra hours for the dance party.
The girl said she had recognized Mr. Bennett from Zavo's, a West Chester dance club for teens, but said she did not know his name.
She decided to follow him to another exit after her friend left her to retrieve items from a locker, she said.
When Assistant Prosecutor Joanne Hash asked what happened next, the teen looked down at the floor on the witness stand and began to cry.
She said that after she passed with Mr. Bennett through an employee exit, he led her away from the crowd, wrapped his arm around her neck and forced her into a men's bathroom.
“He kept telling me to shut up; that I was going to get him fired and we'd all get in trouble,” she said.
At first, Mr. Bennett picked her up and sat her on a sink, but she was able to squirm to the floor, she testified. Mr. Bennett jumped on top of her and slammed her head on the floor until she almost passed out, she said.
“At that time, I felt there was no hope; no one would ever hear me, I wasn't going to get away,” she said.
A cleaning woman walked in and tackled Mr. Bennett during the alleged assault.
Robin Duffey testified that she began her shift at 1 a.m. when she heard a woman's voice screaming, “Get your hands off of me.”
After she tackled Mr. Bennett and ripped off his shirt, he ran away. Police arrested him later that day.
On cross-examination, Mrs. Underwood asked the teen why she moved toward another exit with Mr. Bennett when she was already near the gates at the main exit.
The girl said she was almost out of the park, but the crowd still kept her a distance from the exit.
Mason police officer Todd Carter testified Mr. Bennett gave him a statement at the Warren County Jail two days after the incident. Mr. Bennett told police the girl joined him willingly for sex on the bathroom floor, the officer said.
“He told me at that point she said no, she no longer wanted to have sex, and he was prepared to stop when the cleaning lady burst in,” Officer Carter said.
Mr. Bennett remains in jail on $100,000 bond.
Prosecutors rested their case Thursday. The defense is to argue its case beginning at 9:15 a.m. today.
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