Jury begins deliberations in Lebanon man's child rape trial

David Shaw glances over at the jury box during his testimony at Strafford County Superior Court on Tuesday. (Rochester Voice photo)

DOVER - In a move many didn't see coming, the defendant in the felonious sexual assault trial of a young girl took the stand on Tuesday and said it was a "total surprise" when he learned he had been accused.

It was the surprise ending to an almost weeklong trial that pitted one man's word against his accuser, who suffers from autism and was around the age of 8 when the alleged abuse, which included fellatio, cunnilingus and touching of his penis, occurred.

After the accused, David A. Shaw, 48, of 294 Lower Guinea Road, Lebanon, Maine, was asked if he recalled the girl licking his penis, he answered, "Not to my knowledge," Assistant Attorney Tim Sullivan noted derisively during closing arguments, which immediately followed Shaw's testimony.

Shaw is accused of engaging in a pattern of sexual abuse of the child, the daughter of his live-in girlfriend, said to have occurred in a bunkbed in her bedroom at their Barrington home between August 2015 and August 2016.

In her closing arguments, defense lawyer Kristen Guilmette told the jury the alleged victim and her younger sister along with Shaw's two biological children who often visited for days at a time joked about penises on almost an everyday basis, because to the two girls who lived with their mom, they were an "oddity" of boys.

"They would try to pull down Dave's (Shaw) shorts, pull down (his son's) shorts," Guilmette said, adding that humor was used as playful banter as this blended family tried to become one after Shaw moved in.

She noted that the alleged victim's mom liked the fact that Shaw was being openly affectionate with her oldest daughter and portraying himself as a father figure, who was long absent at their Barrington home.

She also said that to imagine that Shaw could have committed such acts on the alleged victim while her younger sister and a dog were in the room was not reasonable.

Guilmette told jurors that when the alleged victim blurted out during a car ride from a football practice that she licked Shaw's penis it was just another example of the girls' penchant for such biological humor.

"During the car ride they (the two girls) were laughing, to them male bodies are funny," Guilmette said. "It was just their sense of humor."

But in his lengthy closing argument Sullivan said what Shaw did to the alleged victim was "no joke."

"These were unthinkable acts, and they were not because of any joke," he said.

He said Shaw began his predatory move on the alleged victim soon after moving in with his girlfriend.

"He moved in and the routine included touching and then cuddling on the couch watching TV, and then in the bed when he tucked her in," Sullivan said.

Sullivan said Shaw then slowly and methodically groomed the young girl for his purposes of sexual satisfaction, desensitizing her to the presence of his penis by using it as part and parcel of ongoing jokes.

"They may have joked about penises, but they never joked about oral sex," Sullivan quipped. "He picked a vulnerable target and thought she'd never bring it up."

He then said the girl could have easily told any one of a number of people, including her mom, the police, doctors, therapists at any time over the past 18 months that it was a joke, that her whole story was a fabrication, but she didn't.

"And then she even comes to court where she knows what telling the truth is, and she tells you," he said looking at jurors. "No, this was not a joke for her or her mom."

After closing arguments wrapped up around 1:45 p.m. jurors had a brief recess for lunch and then deliberated till a little after 4 p.m.

They'll continue those deliberations today around 9 a.m.

Shaw faces up to life in prison if found guilty.