SOURCE: WTXL
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – WTXL reported this morning that a woman charged with several counts of child abuse and lewd and lascivious behavior had her first day in Leon County court Wednesday.
In June 2017, 34-year-old Celeste Chambers was arrested for charges that she sex trafficked a child from 2003 to 2016 in exchange for drugs. Court documents indicate the child was only three-years-old when the alleged abuse began.
Opening arguments, multiple testimonies from state witnesses – including a victim who feared taking the stand – were heard Wednesday morning by the jury.
WTXL’s Jennifer Meyers has been reporting from the courtroom.
10:06 a.m.:
Patel-Steingart worked with the victim, using a PTSD scale and other diagnostic tools to determine how the victim was doing. Patel-Steingart diagnosed the victim with PTSD. This is common for people who have been threatened with great bodily injury, death, or sexual abuse.
9:57 a.m.:
Norris: “Does the brain have some sort of defense mechanism when someone is trying to explain a traumatic incident?”
Patel-Steingart: “Yes…dissociation is sometimes a defense mechanism…they may not be able to remember specific details…or sequence of events.”
9:47 a.m.:
Patel-Steingart has years of experience working with children who have experienced trauma, abuse, or sexual abuse, and how that can affect their development and memory.
9:38 a.m.:
McSwain has completed her testimony. The state is calling another witness to the stand, a licensed mental health counselor, Gita Patel-Steingart.
9:25 a.m.:
The defense is now cross examining McSwain. Todman has asked about the properties she visited in 2018 (the first and last locations where the victim was abused in Leon county) for her investigation.
9:06 a.m.:
McSwain is describing photos of the property that she took in 2018. Some of these photos include many locked fences, one fence that had fallen down, and the home.
8:59 a.m.
The state has called their last witness to the stand. Tamara McSwain, who works with the state attorney’s office as an investigator. In 2018, she went out to the property where the victim’s first sexual incident happened in Leon Co.
