PARIS — A witness told jurors Thursday that she saw James V. Cole, 32, of Rumford sexually assault the alleged victim twice but was afraid to come forward until the girl went to police.

The witness, who said she was 10 years old when she saw the attacks, took the stand on the fourth day of Cole’s trial in Oxford County Superior Court. He is charged with 11 counts of gross sexual assault against a girl from 2003 to 2008.

Through tears at times, the witness recounted twice seeing Cole on top of the girl. She said was afraid to report the incidents until the girl told police.

The witness said one sexual assault she saw was in late 2007, and she reported it to officials in 2008. Then, shortly before Cole’s trial began, she told Assistant District Attorney Richard Beauchesne about another incident she remembered.

Defense attorney Leonard Sharon asked her why she didn’t tell police about the other incident when she talked to them in 2008.

She said she didn’t like to talk about it, especially after spending hours talking with police about the 2007 incident, and finally told Beauchesne because she thought it would help the state’s case against Cole.

Sharon pointed out how, in previous testimony, the girl said Cole’s jeans were around his ankles, but Thursday she said the jeans his jeans were off completely.

She said she was confident her testimony Thursday was correct.

In other testimony, Sharon called DNA analyst Jill Cramer of Orchid Cellmark, a forensic lab based in Dallas, Texas, to the stand. Justice Robert Clifford allowed the defense witness to go out of order because she traveled from Dallas and court would be closed Friday due to an expected snowstorm.

Cramer conducted a case review on a DNA study by the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory.

Earlier this week, a DNA analyst from the crime lab presented evidence obtained from a blanket on which the alleged victim said she was assaulted, and from underwear the girl said she was wearing at the time.

Cramer said that while the methods used by the crime lab were ethical, she would not have concluded that a partial sample of sperm cells found in the girl’s underwear came from Cole.

“My opinion is that there’s too little information,” Cramer told the jury.

The trial is scheduled to resume Monday.

treaves@sunjournal.com

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