Elizabeth Smart Tells Ordeal of Abduction in Utah Courtroom
Seven years after her abduction at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City home, Elizabeth Smart, 21, took the witness stand Thursday in a Utah courtroom against her accused kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell.
Smart was only fourteen in June 2002 when she was kidnapped by Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, an ordeal that ended nine months later when she was found several miles from her home in Sandy, Utah, with the couple.
The young woman testified that Mitchell entered her bedroom between 2 and 3 a.m. and threatened her if she didn't come with him.
"He came into my room and held a knife to my throat and threatened me with my life and my family's life to come with him," Smart said. "He placed his hand on my chest. He then put the knife up to my neck he told me to get up quietly and if I didn't then he would kill me and my family."
She also told the court that Mitchell forced her to take drugs and alcohol to lower her resistance to having sex with him, and raped her forcibly on multiple occasions. She said shortly after she was abducted she was prepared by the couple for a mock "marriage ceremony" and then forced to have sex with Mitchell following. Smart also explained how she used Mitchell's religious beliefs to convince him to return to Utah after wintering in San Diego.
Mitchell, who believed he was a 'prophet,' has been undergoing psychiatric testing since the abduction, but refuses treatment. The testimony was part of a competency hearing to see whether or not he can stand trial. He was excused from the courtroom this morning after he attempted to disrupt the procedure by singing hymns. Smart described her captor as "evil, wicked, manipulative, stinky, slimy, selfish, not spiritual, not religious, not close to God."
The testimony, which lasted nearly two hours, marks the first time Smart has spoken on the record about the kidnapping.
The Salt Lake Tribune has a transcript of Elizabeth Smart's testimony to the court: Elizabeth Smart testimony
NPR's coverage of Elizabeth Smart's testimony: Elizabeth Smart Describes Ordeal of Rape, Abuse
Deseret News coverage of Elizabeth Smart's testimony: Unflappable Smart describes Mitchell as manipulator
In a recent interview with KSL television in Salt Lake City, a hopeful Elizabeth Smart looks to the future. Smart took the witness stand in a Utah courtroom today against her accused kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell.
CBS News coverage of Elizabeth Smart's testimony Thursday in a Utah courtroom.
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Comments
R
While her ordeal was absolutely horrible, I keep thinking of how heartbroken her parents must have been. And the move to San Diego must have been even scarier -- moving farther away from her family.
All the times he walked away from trouble -- all goes back to the issue of women forcing men to face the consequences of sexual misconduct -- even if it's just a hand on the butt.
Once again Ms. Riordan, thanks for posting important stories about women.
john, agreed on both counts. I still think he will try to use religion as a defense.
skeletnwmn, thanks for your kind words about the articles. Your point about her forgetting details in seven years is well taken, as is your point about her parents and what they went through.
Kate, you're absolutely right. Not everyone lives in a warm and comfortable home with supportive family and friends. Hopefully Elizabeth's voice can be added to the chorus of those empowering victims of captivity and abuse, and lift those who don't have the advantages she does.
noah tall, I didn't discuss Wanda Barzee in this article, really, but see references to her in the article on Elizabeth earlier this week. Wanda has been making news of her own, as the letters she's written to her mother from the Utah State Hospital were released by her mom to the Associated Press.
"evil, wicked, manipulative, stinky, slimy, selfish, not spiritual, not religious, not close to God."
Describes the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith as much as it describes her captor.
Both claim conversations with God.
Both are sexual perverts who condone child sex.
One is the founder of her faith and the other one is insane?
You need to look at what you believe in. If God talks to people and tells them what to do, and you are a servant of that God, then your captor and your religion are both true.
If you can reason and search for the truth, you will find that your religion is a sham and your captor is insane.
Barzee's lawyer, in the hope of getting a lighter sentence, will say that, although she was an accessory, she was totally controlled by Mitchell (a la Manson) and was too afraid for herself and her children to blow the whistle.