Jacko 'said wine was Jesus juice'

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Michael Jackson twice molested a 13-year-old cancer victim after plying him with white wine he called 'Jesus juice', a court heard yesterday.

Asked whether the singer ever touched him inappropriately, Gavin Arvizo - the teenager accusing him of child abuse - said he had been touched twice but added: 'I kind of feel like it was more than twice.'

He told the court he began sleeping alone with Jackson, without his younger brother or anyone else in the bed with them, towards the end of February 2003.

The singer had asked him if he ever masturbated and when he said no, Jackson offered to show him, the jury heard.

'He told me that if men didn't masturbate, they can get to a point where they might rape a girl or become unstable,' the teenager said. Gavin added that he was embarrassed when Jackson touched him. When he tried it a second time at the singer 's Neverland ranch, Jackson grabbed the boy's hand but Gavin pulled it away, he claimed. Earlier, Jackson wept as the teenager told jurors the pop star twice gave him alcohol hidden in soft drink cans, telling him it would help him relax.

The first time was when he was alone with Jackson in the singer's suite at the

Turnberry Resort in Miami. 'Michael gave me a Diet Coke can and asked if I had ever heard of "Jesus juice",' said Gavin, now 15.

'I said I didn't know what it was. Then he said, "You know Jesus drinks wine? We call it Jesus juice". I drank a little bit of it and said it tasted ugly. He said, "It is okay because it will relax you".'

Gavin, who lost a kidney during his cancer treatment, added: 'I told him it was bad for me to drink alcohol and he said it was ok, that it was fine and nothing was going to happen. ' When prosecutor Tom Sneddon asked if he had tried wine before, he said: 'In church, but that's about it.'

He claimed he was given another two cans of wine as they flew back to the star's Neverland ranch on a private jet - and Jackson gave him a £37,000 watch to keep quiet about it. He added: 'When we were taking off, he showed me a watch he had on. He told me it was $75,000 (£37,000). He gave me the watch and told me not to tell anyone about Jesus juice.'

Jackson denies ten charges including child abuse and false imprisonment and the trial, at Santa Barbara District Court in California, continues.

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