Girl Again Refuses To Testify Against Father

Once again a 15-year-old girl has refused to testify against her father in a Pierce County Superior Court rape trial.

The girl, cited for contempt last week by Judge Thomas J. Felnagle, kept mum again Tuesday and remained under house arrest pending resumption of the trial today.

The girl said in June that her father, a metal worker with an IQ of 69 and the intellectual capacity of a 9-year-old child, raped her on three occasions between 1993 and early 1995.

She later recanted that allegation and has refused to testify against him.

The teenager faces continued confinement and fines as high as $2,000 each day she refuses to testify, plus attorney fees and court costs.

The girl was arrested as a material witness Aug. 9 after prosecutors heard she might flee to California. She remained at the county’s juvenile lockup until Friday. Since then the judge has kept her under house arrest at a friend’s house.

Prosecutors on Tuesday asked Felnagle to put the girl in foster care, but he refused.