Asked who had raped her, 11-year-old points across Houma courtroom and says 'That man'

Two 11-year-old girls testified Thursday in the trial of a Houma man accused of raping them.

Juan Paz-Zuniga, 43, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without probation or parole if convicted on any of the three counts of first-degree rape.

"Do you understand why you are here today," Terrebonne Assistant District Attorney Amanda Mustin asked one of the girls.

"To make a statement that a man raped me," the girl said.

Mustin asked her to identify the person, and she pointed at Zuniga and said "That man."

Zuniga’s 2018 arrest resulted from a complaint from the suspect’s family members alleging he had sexually assaulted three relatives younger than 12, the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office said. The three victims, who were raped on multiple occasions, did not live with Zuniga.

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He was indicted by a Terrebonne grand jury on rape charges Nov. 13, 2018. According to the indictment, the incidents happened between Jan. 1, 2017, and Aug. 19, 2018.

An indictment does not presume guilt or innocence but indicates the grand jury found that prosecutors presented enough evidence to warrant a trial on the charges.

On Thursday, the 12-member jury watched video of the two girls' original statements to a children's advocacy worker who interviewed them. The girls were 6 or 7 at the time of the incidents, they said.

One of the girls said she was excited for her first day of school but was instead meeting with the case worker. In the video, she said Zuniga had touched her inappropriately on numerous occasions and raped her in a shed.

"'Come on, we are going to go for a ride,'" the girl said Zuniga told her. "I was so happy. ... But he lied."

The other 11-year-old was soft-spoken and rarely looked up during her testimony in court. When a video interview was shown from four years before, she never looked at the screen.

In the video, she told of how Zuniga raped her once in the bathroom and then again the following day in the shed.

Zuniga's attorney, Jim Holt of Baton Rouge, called four witnesses to the stand. They included Zuniga's wife, Sandra Paz; son, Juan Paz; daughter, Elena Paz; and niece, Emelin Torres.

Sandra Paz, Zuniga's wife of 21 years, testified that she first learned of the girls' claims through a phone call from her sister. Her husband was in the shower, and as soon as he stepped out, she told him.

"He said we need to go talk to them about this because it's not true," Sandra Paz said.

She said Zuniga then told her, "'I would never hurt those girls.'"

Two of the girls testified that Zuniga would tell them he was "checking their hair" before the incidents occurred.

Sandra Paz said the family had an outbreak of lice and that she wasn't with Zuniga the entire time that he used a comb and shampoo in the girls' hair, but she frequented the room as he de-liced them.

Juan and Elena testified that they accompanied all of the girls when they spent time at the house, except when the girls were showering or in the bathroom. They also said they couldn't account for what happened when they were asleep.

Both said they do not believe their father could have committed the crimes.

The trial began Tuesday with jury selection in state District Judge David Arceneaux's courtroom in Houma. On Wednesday, the other girl Zuniga is charged with raping took the stand and her earlier video interview was played in court. Zuniga is expected to take the stand Friday, when the case could go to the jury for a verdict.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Two more girls testify in trial of Houma man accused of raping them