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WEST JORDAN — A Draper bus driver accused of sexually abusing two 5-year-old girls when he drove them to school testified Tuesday that while he was friendly with the children, he never touched them inappropriately.
In his second day of testimony at his trial, John Martin Carrell stood with his attorney and answered questions about surveillance footage that prosecutors say is evidence of the charges against him: 33 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony. Video from the first girl's bus route shows Carrell taking what prosecutors say is an unnaturally long time unbuckling the girl's seat belt, then heading to the driver's seat where the child joins him.
The videos show, day after day, the girl standing between Carrell's legs or sitting on his lap, the driver holding her hand or with an arm around her, as other children on the bus run about and play, occasionally coming to chat with Carrell.
Carrell's hands are not always visible in the footage.
"No I don't know exactly where (my hand) is, but I know where it is not," Carrell told his attorney, Chelsea Koch, briefly losing composure. "It is not on her genitals, her buttocks, her breast or anywhere for any sexual purpose."
Prosecutors say the Draper man sexually abused the two special-needs girls when he drove them to Altara Elementary School, 800 E. 11000 South, between March 12 and April 3, 2014.
At times, the 62-year-old is seen touching the girl's hair, patting her leg, talking to her or leaning his head down close to hers.
He did that, he told Koch, "just to tease her, be friendly, to break the silence."
That girl testified Thursday that the bus driver, whom she knew as John, would touch her inappropriately "every day" as they waited for a teacher to come get her off the bus.
With a second 5-year-old girl on a different route, Carrell said he took extra time to buckle the girl because she would often insist on wearing her backpack in her seat. Video footage shows the girl, who is on the autism spectrum disorder, occasionally becoming upset and asking to keep the backpack on.
When he unbuckled the girl, he would take time to lower her to the ground and make sure she was steady, he said. If he touched the girl near or on her crotch, it was done inadvertently as he tried to get her far enough back on the seat to buckle her in or as he took her out of the seat.
I just don't push kids away, it's just not me. I was trying to be practical about policy.
–John Carrell
"I was getting her out of her seat and making sure she was safe before letting her go," Carrell said.
He said the interactions between himself and the 5-year-old girls, as well as other children on the bus, were simply friendly, a response to them seeking out contact and attention.
"I just don't push kids away, it's just not me. I was trying to be practical about policy," Carrell said, acknowledging he was aware of the school district's guidelines prohibiting touching the children.
At watching the videos in court, Koch asked Carrell whether he ever touched either of the girls for sexual gratification. He turned to the jury as he answered.
"No, I did not, ever," Carrell said, fighting emotion.
The case could go to the the six-woman, four-man jury on Wednesday. Each of the 33 charges Carrell faces carries a potential maximum prison sentence of 15 years to life.
Contributing: Nkoyo Iyamba
