A 17-year-old girl testified Thursday that she had sexual intercourse at least four times with her paternal uncle, whom she had wed last year.
Polygamist David Ortell Kingston is charged with two counts of incest and one count of unlawful sexual conduct, all third-degree felonies, for alleged incidents involving his niece. Each count is punishable by up to five years in prison.During a preliminary hearing on the charges Thursday, the girl said she wed her uncle, David Ortell Kingston, in an Oct. 15, 1997, ceremony in Salt Lake City.
She testified that the wedding was performed by her father, Daniel Kingston, and was attended mostly by family members, including David and Daniel Kingston's "other wives."
After the wedding, the girl said she continued to live at her mother's Sandy home, where David Kingston would visit "every once in a while."
The first sexual encounter took place in the middle of January 1998, the then-16-year-old girl testified. She said David Kingston called her earlier that day to ask if he could come over. He arrived about 9 p.m. as she was getting ready for bed.
"I didn't say anything," she testified. "I didn't want it to happen, but I didn't stop him."
She said she felt trapped and afraid to refuse his advances.
In early March, David Kingston moved the girl to a South Salt Lake apartment, where she lived for about two months with a cousin. There, the two had sexual intercourse three more times over the next three months, she testified.
While she lived in the apartment, the girl said one of David Kingston's wives, who is about 19 years old, spent some time living there. "She was married to David, and she was a cousin of mine," the girl said.
"I think it was to watch over me . . . kind of just baby-sit me."
The girl also testified that the day the two had sex for the fourth time, David Kingston gave her a wedding ring.
The girl told prosecutors that her father, John Daniel Kingston, belt-whipped her in May after she ran away from David Kingston. She allegedly is David Kingston's 15th wife.
John Daniel Kingston has been charged with child abuse in that incident.
Defense attorney Stephen McCaughey has said David Kingston never was married to the young woman nor did he have sex with her.
"That (marriage) is not part of the charge anyway. The charge is whether he had sexual intercourse with her as an underage girl and as a niece. Our defense is that he never had sexual intercourse with her," McCaughey said.
Third District Judge L.A. Dever was expected to decide later Thursday whether David Kingston will stand trial on the charges.