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Leaf, Emmy-winning former Fox 5 investigative reporter, tearfully and vociferously denied a list of charges against him read off by his defense attorney, Brian Neary, in Hackensack, including that he viewed child pornography on the computer at his Wyckoff home.
- SPECIAL REPORT: A prosecutor hit former Fox 5 reporter Charles Leaf hard yesterday in his child sex abuse trial, but the Emmy-winning investigator remained steadfast. READ MORE ….
Charles Leaf (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
He then began a narrative of his life — including his time as a U.S. Marine assigned to the American Embassy in Warsaw and his rise in the field of television journalism — before his testimony turned to a family nanny, Weronika Karwowska, whom his lawyers say put false ideas in the girl’s mind.
Leaf blasted Karwowska, citing an incident in 2007 when, he said, she locked his children in a car in Cliffside Park after she failed to bring them home at a set time.
Weronika Karwowska on the stand earlier in the trial (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
“I called again, and this time my son answered Weronika’s phone, and he was frantic,” Leaf told jurors. “I could hear [his daughter] in the background, crying. [His son] said, ‘Dad, we’re alone in Weronika’s car. She left us here in the car.’
“He said he was very hot,” he said.
“I talked to [him] for a couple of minutes. I was concerned about [their] safety,” Leaf continued. “They were in a parking lot, and Weronika had gone into some store. I was scared to death for my kids.”
The nanny eventually returned and took the phone, he said.
“She said she was sorry — in the cold way she had,” Leaf testified. “And I told Weronika that I was going to have a very stern conversation with her at a later time, because this was totally unacceptable.”
Leaf told the jury he wanted to fire her immediately. But after a conversation with his wife, “the calming influence in my life,” they “decided because of our relationship with her mother, Eva, we would give her another chance.”
Leaf described in detail other problems he said the family had with Karwowska: chronic lateness, a lack of understanding or commitment to her job and uneven performance.
“She was unreliable in terms of time, lackadaisical in terms of her duties,” he testified. “I had to tell her to feed the children, get them ready for bed.
“The house would be a wreck, toys all over the place. The kids hadn’t eaten dinner — or if they did it was junk. They weren’t ready for bed. They weren’t bathed.
“This is why we have her there, first and foremost to create a safe environment for our children. She violated the most basic duties of a nanny.”
Earlier in the trial, the girl testified that she made up the allegations at the urging of Karwowska.
Leaf’s father-in-law also testified that he was the one who uploading kiddie porn on Leaf’s computer.
The trial, which began Jan. 7, is closing with Leaf’s testimony. He returned to the stand after a break this morning.
Closing arguments were expected Friday, weather permitting.
CHECK BACK TODAY FOR MORE ON THE TRIAL
STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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THE TRIAL:
EXCLUSIVE: With the final witnesses set to testify, the child sex assault trial of former FOX 5 investigative reporter Charles Leaf has been marked nearly as much by what’s gone out outside the trial as what’s been revealed inside the Hackensack courtroom. READ MORE ….
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EXCLUSIVE: The father-in-law of former FOX TV reporter Charles Leaf testified yesterday in his son-in-law’s child sex assault trial that child pornography found by Bergen County prosecutor’s detectives on Leaf’s computer was actually his. READ MORE ….
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EXCLUSIVE: The nanny in the child sex assault trial of former FOX TV reporter Charles Leaf testified today that the alleged victim told her that he touched her “there” — after previously insisting two or three times that he didn’t. READ MORE ….
Charles Leaf (STORY / PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
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EXCLUSIVE: Two full days of scrupulous questioning in the child sex assault trial of former Fox 5 TV reporter Charles Leaf ended yesterday in Hackensack with a defense attorney and chief investigator from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office continuing to butt heads. READ MORE ….
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EXCLUSIVE: A retired investigator testified today that Bergen County detectives searched for child pornography on the work computer of former Fox 5 reporter Charles Leaf — a fact apparently not told to defense lawyers or prosecutors before his child sex abuse trial began this week. READ MORE ….
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EXCLUSIVE: The second day in the child sex-abuse trial of former Fox 5 reporter Charles Leaf in Hackensack today featured a former investigator testifying about an interview she observed with the then-4-year-old girl who prosecutors say was the victim. READ MORE ….
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UPDATE: Showing considerable composure, an 8-year-old girl testified in Hackensack today that former FOX 5 reporter Charles Leaf never touched her and that molestation allegations she made to a therapist years ago were fed to her by her nanny, whom she called “Weronika.” READ MORE ….
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