‘Either you believe (her) or you don’t.’ Retrial begins for man accused of raping a child

The retrial for a 37-year-old Port Royal man accused of raping an 11-year-old girl began on Monday and both sides made opening statements that were similar to those from the mistrial in August.

After Matthew Sheffer, the child and her mother moved back to Pennsylvania from Maine, Deputy District Attorney Sean McGraw said Sheffer began “grooming” the introverted child by asking her to shower with him and to try on swimsuits in December.

A few weeks later, McGraw said Sheffer “steps up his game” by talking to her about porn and masturbation because she was “more developed than most girls.”

Eventually, Sheffer allegedly began sexually assaulting his “sexual play thing” on a daily basis.

“This is not an easy case. It’s pretty hard to connect with the world of an 11-year-old,” McGraw said. “Either you believe (her) or you don’t.”

Assistant Public Defender Elizabeth Ramos agreed with McGraw that the case relies on her statements against Sheffer’s.

“Matt is innocent. None of this, in fact, actually happened,” Ramos said. “Instead, you’ll hear that it’s an awful story. You’ll learn that it was a story made up by a man who was going to do whatever it takes to get custody back of his daughter.”

Sheffer is charged with 10 counts of child rape, 14 counts of indecent assault of someone less than 13 years old, three counts of aggravated indecent assault and one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

Testimony is scheduled to finish Wednesday before the jury of seven men and five women begin to deliberate. One juror was dismissed by Senior Judge David Klementik before the trial began.

This story was originally published October 22, 2018 at 10:46 AM.