Rev. Daryl Bujak didn't believe the girl
when she said she had been sexually abused, and he wanted to cure her rebellious
at-home behavior. So week after week, when her mother brought her in for
counseling, he allegedly punished her with a bruising spanking.
"He
didn't want me to grow up and become a liar and go to hell," the girl told a
Kane County judge Tuesday, describing what she said happened in
2005.
Authorities believe she was telling the truth and later arrested
Matthew Resh of Ingleside, who is charged with five counts of predatory criminal
sexual assault.
Bujak is accused of battery for allegedly beating the
girl, who was 12 at the time, with a piece of crown molding during their weekly
counseling sessions at First Missionary Baptist Church in
Elgin.
The girl, now 16, took the witness stand
Tuesday and described nearly ritualistic spankings during her meetings with the
pastor. She said the number of blows depended on her mother's account of how she
had behaved at home that week.
"Fifteen [blows] was a good week," she
said.
The spankings raised painful welts, the girl said, and her backside
became so sore she had to sit on her hands during the church service.
The
girl's parents brought her to Bujak, their pastor, in March 2005 after she gave
her mother a note vaguely describing alleged sexual abuse. The mother testified
she did not believe her and shared that view with Bujak.
The girl said
she met privately with the pastor, who questioned her sharply. After two hours,
she said, she decided to end the interrogation by falsely saying she had made up
the story.
But her mother agreed to keep bringing her back, hoping to
improve her conduct. She told the judge she knew corporal punishment would be
part of the routine.
Bujak's attorney, Ross Bartolotta, did not dispute
the spankings but argued that the pastor was simply disciplining the girl with
the full knowledge of her parents. He added that Bujak, also charged with
failing to report sexual abuse, could hardly be expected to believe her story
when her own mother did not.
After the mother had grown to believe her
daughter's allegations, the pastor accompanied them to the police station in far
north suburban Richmond.
Resh awaits a July trial.
Bujak's trial
is expected to conclude Wednesday.