'You had me terrified': 15-year-old testifies against man charged with sexually assaulting her
A 15-year-old girl who says she was sexually assaulted over several years by a man she knew, looked her alleged attacker in the eye Thursday as he cross-examined her on a DuPage County witness stand and told him how he ruined her childhood.
"I felt safe and comfortable with you. All the wrong bells were going off, but I trusted you," she said. "I didn't know it wasn't right. But to answer your question, was I comfortable when the sexual assault happened? Not really."
Andrew Hui, a 40-year-old Army specialist from Oak Brook is accused of assaulting the girl 60 to 80 times between April 2011 and June 2013 while he lived in her home.
Hui, who enlisted in the Army shortly before leaving the home, is charged with 13 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault.
Hui, who is representing himself in court, pressed the girl on why she didn't report the assault as soon as he left for the Army.
"You had me terrified," she yelled back at him.
Despite the obvious discomfort, prosecutors say there was "no way to prevent" Hui from cross-examining the girl.
Hui, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and slippers, also pressed the girl on why some of her original statements, made in 2015, two years after the alleged activity ended, were not as detailed as some of her memories she recalled during Wednesday's questioning by prosecutors.
"I'm a child. I've done my best to press those memories out of my brain," she snapped back. "But since this trial started, I've had to think about all of the things you did to me."
Hui questioned why the girl's memory was hazy about some issues but she was able to remember the name of the One Direction song "Summer Love," which she said they listened to during the time he assaulted her.
"The only reason I remember the name of the song is because you told me I was your summer love," she said.
Hui also questioned whether it was the girl's father's decision to meet with prosecutors again last year to prepare for trial. She confirmed testifying was her decision.
"It's not the most comfortable thing in the world," she said. "For me, it's something I knew had to happen. I didn't want anyone else to ever go through anything like it."
As the morning's testimony came to a close, Judge Liam Brennan admonished Hui about "continuously misrepresenting" previous testimony and evidence.
The jury trial is expected to continue through Friday.