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Victim testifies to sexual assault

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Church member accused of raping her twice when she was 15

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Tina Anderson answers the questions of County prosecutor Wayne Coull on the first day of the trial of Ernest Willis on Purchase photo reprints at PhotoExtra charges of raping raping Anderson in 1997, when she was 15 years old.

By Maddie Hanna / Monitor staff May 24, 2011 After she reported being sexually assaulted by her stepfather, Tina Anderson recalls her mother and pastor telling her that "a good Christian forgives and forgets." So when Anderson was later raped at age 15 by a married man who also went to Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, "I didn't see a reason" to tell anyone, she said. "I thought that I was doing the right thing." Anderson had to tell someone when she learned she was pregnant with Ernest Willis's baby - but even then, she said, she didn't tell the full story because she was afraid she'd be blamed

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Victim testifies to sexual assault | Concord Monitor

by leaders at the Clinton Street church and her mother. Nearly 14 years later, Anderson told that story to jurors yesterday as she testified against Willis on the first day of his trial in Merrimack County Superior Court.
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Willis, who is 52 and lives in Gilford, is charged with forcibly raping Anderson, his former baby sitter, twice in 1997, once in a car while giving her driving lessons and once at her house while she was home alone. Willis admits to having sex with Anderson on the second of the alleged occasions and pleaded guilty last week to one count of statutory rape, but he maintains the act was consensual. Anderson, now 29 and living in Arizona, denied yesterday that she ever consented to having sex with Willis. She said Willis raped her the first time by pushing her into the backseat of a car after instructing her to pull over in a dark parking lot somewhere on the Heights. About a month later, Willis came to her Concord Gardens apartment, locked the door behind him and forced her toward the couch, where Anderson said he again raped her.

Christine Leaf, the mother of Tina Anderson, weeps while at the witness stand on the first day of the trial of Ernest Willis on charges that he raped Anderson in 1997, when she Purchase was 15 years old. photo reprints at PhotoExtra

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On both occasions, Anderson said, Willis performed the act wordlessly, lifting up her dress, which was "loose and long," Anderson said. All of her dresses met church-approved standards, she said, falling at least two inches below the knees and dipping no lower than two fingers below the collarbone. "We kind of looked like Amish people, is the way to describe it," she said. The church's teachings on sex were similarly stringent, Anderson said. Church members who were dating "didn't even hold hands," she said. "When people were dating, you weren't supposed to touch. You save everything for marriage." With those lessons in mind, "I was just afraid" to say anything about what happened with Willis, Anderson said. "I was afraid of what would happen," she said. "I was afraid I wouldn't be believed. I was afraid my life is over, is really what I thought." In his opening statement, Assistant County Attorney Wayne Coull told jurors "fear, faith and family kept this secret for so long. For too long." Anderson agreed to be interviewed by the police last year after someone told her story on a Facebook page critical of Independent Fundamental Baptist churches. While "we're not here to try the church," Coull said, its presence in Anderson's life - she attended the school run by Trinity Baptist and was there six to seven days a week - defined her view of the world and dissuaded her from reporting the rape allegations. "She was afraid she would be blamed. She was afraid she would be judged," Coull said. "Ultimately, she was." Anderson testified yesterday that when she told her mother and former Trinity Baptist pastor Chuck Phelps that she was pregnant, "I felt very attacked." Phelps had Anderson come to his house, where his wife "was asking me question after question, just badgering me," Anderson said. (next page )
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CONCORD (NH) Trials Ernest Willis

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WILLIS ARRESTED FOR 1997 RAPE

CONCORD

Defense asks judge for new rape trial

As he awaits his sentencing for forcibly raping a fellow Trinity Baptist Church member twice in 1997 and getting 0 her pregnant at age 15, Ernest Willis is asking
June 7, 2011 WARNER

Assault allegations tied to city church

The Warner police said yesterday they are investigating the allegations of a California woman who recently reported 0 being sexually assaulted as a teenager about

June 3, 2011 MONITOR EDITORIAL

Applaud Anderson for speaking out

Tina Anderson's horrifying treatment by Concord's Trinity Baptist Church made her story the subject of national 1 attention. Anderson was 15 in 1997 when she

June 1, 2011

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Victim testifies to sexual assault | Concord Monitor

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Mother says police didn't follow up

The mother of the woman who says she was raped by a fellow member of Trinity Baptist Church twice in 1997 testified this morning that she did what she could to report her thenteenage daughter's allegations. Christine Leaf said she contacted the Concord police after 2 15-year-old Tina Anderson told her she was pregnant
May 24, 2011 Victim testifies to sexual assault Woman takes witness stand, accuses Willis of rape Willis pleads to statutory rape

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This is a terrible story to

By robertstephen - 05/24/2011 - 11:34 am

This is a terrible story to hear. I hope that she gets justice in some way for these wrongs. Login or register to post comments
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Stay strong Tina!

By graylock1 - 05/24/2011 - 8:17 am

You have been wronged by people you loved and trusted, it is your time to right them! You are more than a survivor, you will flower. Login or register to post comments
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so sad
By _Penny_ - 05/24/2011 - 1:17 am

So said her mother abandoned and went back with her husband after he got out of prision. I think she lost any crediablity here. Disgusting. I am not going t pity Tina. She isn't a victim, she is a survivor. Al Login or register to post comments
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Victim testifies to sexual assault | Concord Monitor

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