A teenager accused of killing his stepfather with a samurai sword denied that he had inflicted the fatal blows and said he had confessed to the murder to shield the real killer: his mother.
"I was trying to protect my mother," said Zachary Gibian, who testified in his own defense on Thursday in Suffolk County Criminal Court.
He told jurors that his stepfather, Scott Nager, had been sexually and psychologically abusing him for years. He said his mother only learned of the alleged sex abuse the night before the killing, when she allegedly walked in on her husband and son.
Gibian, 19, did not overtly blame his mother for the death of his stepfather but portrayed a scenario in which she was the only other person in the home on the morning of Feb. 27 last year, when Nager was slain.
Laura Nager, through her attorney, has insisted she was not the killer. The woman, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has not been charged with any crime related to the killing. She has not appeared in the courthouse since the trial began earlier this month.
The chief of the Suffolk district attorney's homicide unit, John Collins, said prosecutors have the correct suspect on trial and said Gibian's testimony "stretches credulity."
"I think he's not telling the truth today," Collins said.
Gibian testified that after spending the night at a friend's house -- he left when his parents began to argue about the sexual encounter -- he came home about 11am to find the gruesome scene in his living room.
"I seen my stepfather sitting up with a big cut to his neck and side of his face," Gibian testified.
He said he saw his mother sitting on a second couch in the living room, covered in blood and crying, the sword near his stepfather's body.
"I was shocked. I didn't know what to do," he said.
Gibian also testified that his stepfather had repeatedly forced him to perform a sex act on him, sometimes with a pistol held to his head.
Prosecutors say what Keahon called abuse by Nager was parental discipline.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
RSS