Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Jurors listen to police interview of defendant
After two days of listening to accusations that Wilson Hernandez molested his two stepdaughters in the spring and summer of 2013, jurors in a Broward courtroom heard Thursday from Hernandez himself.
Hernandez, 52, did not take the stand at his trial, but prosecutors Patyl Oflazian and Kerrie Harper played a recording of an interview he gave a Pembroke Pines police detective after his arrest in August 2013.
During the interview, Hernandez accused his wife of being emotionally and physically abusive, but he confirmed some of the major allegations against him, including that he touched his stepdaughters inappropriately and that he and his wife sometimes bathed with them.
The girls were 8 and 11 at the time.
He said the contact came while he was bathing the girls, in a bedroom and in the living room of the family’s Pembroke Pines apartment. The older daughter testified that Hernandez shaved her pubic hair, which he confirmed in the interview.
“Everything was done with consent from her mom,” Hernandez said. He insisted that all contact between him and his stepdaughters was innocent and non-sexual.
He faces multiple counts of lewd and lascivious molestation and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
The mother, who testified Wednesday, is facing charges of child neglect and failure to report abuse. Because the girls remain in her custody, the Sun Sentinel is not naming the mother.
Defense lawyers David Wheeler and Katherine Lopez are arguing that the mother invented the molestation allegations as a way of separating from Hernandez without risking her legal immigration status. Defense lawyers say the mother’s plan backfired when she was charged with felonies, jeopardizing her immigration status anyway.
Hernandez and the mother have divorced.