New Hampshire
Defense seeks to undermine accuser's credibility in New Hampshire youth center sex abuse case
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Lawyers for a man charged with raping a teenage girl at a youth holding facility in New Hampshire tried to erode the accuser’s credibility at trial Wednesday, suggesting she had a history of lying and changing her story.
Now 39, Natasha Maunsell was 15 and 16 when she was held at the Youth Detention Services Unit in Concord. Lawyers for Victor Malavet, 62, who faces 12 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, say she concocted the allegations in hopes of getting money from a civil lawsuit.
Testifying for a second day at Malavet’s trial, Maunsell acknowledged that she denied having been sexually assaulted when asked in 2002, 2017 and 2019. She said she lied the first time because she was still at the facility and feared retaliation, and again in the later years because she didn’t think anyone would believe her.
“It had been so long that I didn’t think anybody would even care,” she said. “I didn’t think it would matter to anyone … so I kept it in for a long time.”
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they have come forward publicly, as Maunsell has done. She is among more than 1,100 former residents of youth facilities who are suing the state alleging abuse that spanned six decades.
Malavet’s trial opened Monday. It is the first criminal trial arising from a five-year investigation into allegations of abuse at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester, though unlike the other eight men facing charges, Malavet worked at a different state-run facility where children were held while awaiting court disposition of their cases.
Under questioning from defense lawyer Maya Dominguez, Maunsell acknowledged Wednesday that she lied at age 15 when she told a counselor she had a baby, and that in contrast to her trial testimony, she did not tell police in 2020 that Malavet had kissed her or that he had assaulted her in a storage closet. But she denied the lawyer’s claim that she appeared “angry or exasperated” when questioned about Malavet in 2002.
“I appeared scared,” she said after being shown a video clip from the interview. “I know me, and I looked at me, and I was scared.”
Maunsell also rebutted two attempts to portray her as a liar about money she received in advance of a possible settlement in her civil case. After Dominguez claimed she spent $65,000 on a Mustang, Maunsell said “mustang” was the name of another loan company. And when Dominguez showed her a traffic incident report listing her car as a 2021 Audi and not the 2012 Audi she testified about, Maunsell said the report referred to a newer rental car she was given after she crashed the older car.
In the only civil case to go to trial so far, a jury awarded David Meehan $38 million in May for abuse he says he suffered at the Youth Development Center in the 1990s, though the verdict remains in dispute.
Together, the two trials highlight the unusual dynamic of having the state attorney general’s office simultaneously prosecute those accused of committing offenses and defend the state. While attorneys for the state spent much of Meehan’s trial portraying him as a violent child, troublemaking teenager and a delusional adult, state prosecutors are relying on Mansell’s testimony in the criminal case.
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New Hampshire
New Hampshire man dies of triple E
![New Hampshire man dies of triple E New Hampshire man dies of triple E](https://gray-wcax-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/IRJBUATMEZDU7AUPKEKMDYU4SY.jpg?auth=dce2dcd50230cdcab9de0494d24f06142a39ea2b5ff075abf43fa7095ba6dede&width=1200&height=600&smart=true)
BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A New Hampshire man has died of the mosquito-borne illness tripe E – or Eastern Equine Encephalitis.
Earlier this week, 41-year-old Steven Perry from Hampstead, New Hampshire went to the hospital with a brain infection and died from the disease.
In Vermont, mosquitoes have tested positive for the virus in Grand Isle and Franklin counties, and the state had a human case of the disease for the first time in 12 years.
There is no anti-viral treatment or human vaccine for the illness, so officials recommend avoiding being outside during dawn and dusk, wearing bug spray, and removing standing water from your property.
Copyright 2024 WCAX. All rights reserved.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire man dies from mosquito-borne EEE
![New Hampshire man dies from mosquito-borne EEE New Hampshire man dies from mosquito-borne EEE](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/08/28/f067422e-2bb5-4662-8732-fd4b64eb7b34/thumbnail/1200x630/30b0adcd246eff63dd1648ce5e9b4998/0a85871068ce139f33b182b9c9aeaec5.jpg?v=29ebd300d9a3cd24077d945a46991f72)
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New Hampshire
Person dies in New Hampshire after contracting EEE as Northeast states warn of mosquito-borne virus
How to repel mosquitoes
Check out some mosquito repellents just in time for the summer.
A person in New Hampshire has died after contracting the eastern equine encephalitis virus.
EEE is a rare disease transmitted by mosquitoes; only 11 human cases are reported annually on average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Several people, horses and mosquitoes around the Northeast have tested positive for the disease this summer.
A resident of Hampstead, New Hampshire was hospitalized due to severe central nervous system disease and passed away due to the illness, according to a Tuesday release from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. The department declined to release the identity or time of death of the individual.
“We believe there is an elevated risk for (EEE) infections this year in New England given the positive mosquito samples identified,” New Hampshire state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said in the release. “The risk will continue into the fall until there is a hard frost that kills the (mosquitoes). Everybody should take steps to prevent mosquito bites when they are outdoors.”
‘Take extra precautions’: Massachusetts towns warn about rare, lethal mosquito-borne virus
Officials around the Northeast urge precautions due to EEE risk
While EEE is rare, roughly 30% of cases end in death, and many survivors have ongoing neurologic issues, according to the CDC. The virus is most common around Eastern or Gulf Coast states, and researchers have also warned that climate change is giving rise to mosquitoes as they thrive in warm, humid weather.
The CDC has identified four human EEE cases in 2024, in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont. The agency did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for updated tracking in light of the New Hampshire case.
EEE has also been found in horses or mosquitoes in several other states including Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Officials in some counties have urged residents to take precautions, and a Massachusetts town even closed public parks and fields from dusk until dawn.
Massachusetts’ most recent outbreak began in 2019 and left six dead.
How to protect yourself from EEE
Eastern equine encephalitis is spread to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes. The virus can cause a fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, behavioral changes, and drowsiness, according to the CDC.
Most people infected with eastern equine encephalitis do not develop symptoms, the CDC said. People of all ages are susceptible to infection, but people over 50 and younger than 15 are at greatest risk.
There is no treatment or vaccine for EEE, but people in high-risk areas can protect themselves by preventing mosquito bites, which are most likely to happen from dusk to dawn. Take precautions to avoid mosquito bites and protect against potential exposure to the mosquito-borne illness:
- Use insect repellent.
- Wear loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirts and pants.
- Use air conditioning and window screens to prevent mosquito bites indoors.
- Dump out containers of water near your home to eliminate breeding grounds.
Contributing: Mike Murphy, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Henry Schwan, Telegram and Gazette
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