NORTHAMPTON — Two young women took the stand in Hampshire Superior Court Wednesday morning to describe a series of sexual assaults they say a former Easthampton man committed on them when they were between the ages of 3 and 14.
The defendant, Kevin DiRocco, 43, denied the accusations numerous times when he testified in his own defense later in the day.
DiRocco pleaded not guilty in October 2015 to charges of aggravated rape and abuse of a child, two counts of rape and abuse of a child and eight counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. He was released on bail pending the trial.
The Gazette generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault. DiRocco and the alleged victims were known to each other.
The trial, which began Wednesday following two days of jury selection, will resume Thursday morning with closing arguments.
The 15-member jury heard testimony from both women, who are now in their early 20s, about the incidents they alleged to have occurred between 1998 and 2009.
The incidents are alleged to have stopped for period when the girls were in second grade up to eighth grade.
“This case is about them and it’s about the kind of lives they have led,” Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Caleb Weiner said. “I expect the evidence that you will hear that in some ways they lead normal lives … the evidence will show, in the early years, there were few if any outward signs of what these girls were experiencing.”
Countering Weiner’s statement, Rachel Weber, one of DiRocco’s two defense attorneys, said it was a “sad story” about two young women who had been let down by DiRocco and “in their anger, in their abandonment, they made up a lie” to punish him.
Weber said there was no denying DiRocco failed them “but he never raped them. He never molested them. He never assaulted and battered them.”
She advised the jury to pay attention to three things; any inconsistencies in the witnesses’ testimony, if their stories were logical or plausible and what they would not hear in the testimonies.
The first woman to take the stand told the jury the first incident happened when she was 3 years old and occurred as she watched DiRocco play video games.
She alleged that she would be sitting on DiRocco’s lap when he would pull his penis out and touch her skin. She said DiRocco went on to fondle her and, on two occasions before she was 6 or 7 years old, made her perform oral sex. The incidents then stopped but began again by the time she was in eighth grade, she said. At one point in 2008 or 2009, she said, he digitally raped her.
“I didn’t know what to do, I was lying there uncomfortably, looking around,” she said.
Weiner asked the woman if she ever told DiRocco it was “OK.”
“I asked him to stop once,” she said. “He asked me if it hurt or felt bad. I said no it didn’t hurt so he just kept going.”
During cross-examination, Weber questioned the woman on the location of rooms and furniture in the Easthampton home where the incidents are alleged to have occurred.
Through questioning, the jury learned that both women were active in after-school activities and sports, which meant they would not have been at the house before DiRocco left for his night shift.
In 2012, DiRocco moved in with his father in Springfield and the two then-children would visit him there.
In a quiet voice, the second woman answered questions from the prosecutor and defense attorney.
Echoing the testimony of the first woman, the young woman said she would watch DiRocco play video games and during that time he would touch her inappropriately with his hands and his genitalia. The woman said he also made her perform oral sex and touched her inappropriately with an object.
Testifying on behalf of the defense, DiRocco’s father took the stand. Retired from nursing, Danny Di Rocco (who in court Wednesday spelled his last name differently than his son) told the jury that in his role as a nurse he was a mandatory reporter — which means if he had was any inkling or suspicion of abuse, it must be reported to authorities.
When asked about the two women’s demeanor during visits with Kevin, Danny Di Rocco said he “saw nothing out of the ordinary, even in hindsight.”
Reminding Di Rocco that he was under oath and that he had a duty to tell the truth, defense attorney Jennifer Rosenthal asked Di Rocco if he would lie for his son.
“No, in this case, no” he said.
Questioned by the prosecutor if Di Rocco knew what was going on inside the Easthampton home, Di Rocco responded “did I have eyes on what was going on in that home? No.”
Toward the end of the day, Kevin DiRocco took the stand on his own behalf, testifying about his work schedule and his lack of involvement in the women’s lives as well as the condition of the home in Easthampton.
Asked by defense attorney Rosenthal about each accusation, DiRocco answered “not true.”
During questioning by Weiner, DiRocco said the two women never expressed anger toward him.
Emily Cutts can be reached ecutts@gazettenet.com.