Mother of 18-year-old accuser in rape trial takes witness stand in Richland County Court

The lone witness in an abbreviated court session Wednesday was the mother of an alleged rape victim.

Sean Mullins, 49, faces two counts of rape and two counts of sexual battery with a then-teenage boy during the weekend of Dec. 6-8, 2019, at a Mansfield hotel.

The now-18-year man testified Tuesday in Richland County Common Pleas Court.

The News Journal is not identifying the mother to protect her son's identity. She testified about a fight with her son in October 2021. The mother confiscated the boy's phone and called Mansfield police.

On cross-examination by defense attorney Joshua Moudy, the woman said she called the police about the fight with her son, not about what she found on his phone.

"I didn't know what was going on. He was in a rage," she said of her son.

The mother did testify about what she found on her son's phone, text messages in which Mullins called the accuser "baby boy" and a photo of Mullins pointing to his nipple.

Mother was 'sickened' by what she found on son's cellphone

"I was sickened," she said, adding she took screenshots and provided them to police.

The woman also signed a consent form to allow police to search the phone. A police lieutenant advised the mother to get a protection order against Mullins, nothing "there was something off" about the text messages.

At that point, the woman reached out to her son.

"You are protected. You need to tell me what is going on," she testified. "He started shaking, almost like a panic attack. He turned pale."

The woman said her son told her Mullins had touched him. She put the teenager in counseling a couple of months later, in December 2021.

During a family trip in April 2022, she said her son told her more than touching had occurred.

"It took my breath away," the mother said.

She said her son, who lives next door with his grandmother, has become more trusting and their relationship has improved. The woman noted the 18-year-old recently graduated from high school, has a full-time job and a bright future.

On cross-examination, Moudy asked the woman about the weekend in question. She had picked up her son to go to a Cleveland Browns game.

The teen had said Mullins often gave him alcohol before sexual encounters. The woman told Moudy that her son was not hung over and showed no outward signs of being raped that weekend, which is what he testified had happened.

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mother of 18-year-old accuser in rape trial takes witness stand in Richland County Court