The second accuser in the Danny Masterson rape trial broke down on the stand Tuesday when describing retaliation she has faced from the Church of Scientology.
The woman, a former girlfriend of Masterson’s who has been identified in court as Christina B., appeared to have a panic attack as she discussed the consequences of being declared a “suppressive person.”
“I can’t breathe,” she said at one point.
She testified that she reported Masterson to the church after he allegedly raped her while she was unconscious in December 2001. She said a church official told her that it was not possible to rape one’s girlfriend.
She said she was also told it was her job, or her “hat” in Scientology terminology, “to give him sex whenever he wanted.”
She said a church ethics officer, Miranda Scoggins, told her that that “no crime was committed,” and that she had “pulled in” the negative experiences she was having. At the time, Christina B. was a practicing Scientologist and she said she believed what she was told.
“There was something I was doing or something I had done to deserve what he was doing to me,” she explained. “We are all responsible for the condition that we’re in — that is what we’re taught. … I still struggle with that even today.”
She said she was put on an “ethics program,” and was also instructed to read material on “suppressive persons.” The prospect that she might be declared a suppressive person for reporting Masterson, “almost put me in a state of terror,” she said.
“I just needed to do as I was told and I was not to tell anybody,” she said. She said she feared that if she went to the police, “they would destroy me.”
Christina B. ultimately went to the LAPD in December 2016. She has since filed a lawsuit against Scientology and Masterson, alleging that she has been subjected to “fair game” tactics in retaliation, including being stalked, followed, threatened and run off the road. She also alleges that she was targeted on social media, subjected to credit card fraud and phone and email hacking, and that her dog was killed.
In her testimony, she began to cry when she said the church has treated her like a suppressive person for the last six years. She said she feared she would not have survived similar treatment back in 2001.
“What my husband and my babies have been through the last six years, I would not have survived it then,” she said “I understood it would be bad, but I didn’t understand …”
She then appeared to have difficulty breathing.
“I’m trying to calm my panic,” she said.
The court took a break while she was consoled by a victim advocate from the D.A.’s office.
Christina B. began her testimony on Monday, telling the jury that she awoke one night in November 2001 to find that Masterson was raping her. She said she grabbed him by the hair, and that he hit her face. When he got off of her, she said he spit on her and called her “white trash.”
She testified Tuesday afternoon that she did not tell anyone else about the incident until 2010 or 2011, when she disclosed it to her husband. She said she later called the RAINN hotline for sexual assault, and came to the realization that she had in fact been raped.
“My view changed,” she said. “I believed a crime did occur.”
Philip Cohen, Masterson’s lawyer, began his cross-examination by exploring discrepancies between her testimony and her initial interview with the prosecutor. As he paced back and forth, Christina B. interrupted and asked him to stop walking near Masterson.
“When you walk to the side of the courtroom, I don’t want to look over there,” she said. Cohen agreed to ask his questions from the podium.
The trial will resume on Thursday.
