THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409030490
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
A man accused last November of raping a 4-year-old girl went on trial Friday, facing 19 felony indictments charging that he had sex with two other young girls numerous times in the 1980s.
James Perry Wilkins, 58, has pleaded innocent to charges that he raped, fondled and sodomized the two girls, whom he baby-sat for several years at his home in southern Suffolk. They were as young as 9 when the alleged rapes took place.
Prosecutors presented their case Friday, which included testimony from the victims and their relatives. Several witnesses said Wilkins kept dolls, stuffed animals, negligees and pornographic magazines in his home, and that one bedroom was painted lavender because it was the girls' favorite color.
Friday was the eighth time in 37 years that the illiterate farmhand has stood trial. Since a 1957 fornication conviction in Portsmouth, Wilkins has been convicted of attempted rape, assault, abduction, sodomy, making sexually suggestive phone calls and other crimes, and three times he has gone to prison.
Wilkins was arrested in November and charged with raping a 4-year-old girl whose family lived behind his small trailer. The other victims, who are sisters, came forward after his arrest.
KEYWORDS: SEX CRIME SEXUAL ASSAULT RAPE TRIAL by CNB