Halle Berry seeks to bar son’s testimony, claims Olivier Martinez ‘coached’ him in custody fight
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Halle Berry is not willing to take a step back when it comes to protecting her son. The 'X-Men' actress now wants the judge to understand why she opposes having her son testify in court, and she has solid reasons to support her request.
According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Berry claimed that her ex-husband, Olivier Martinez, has “coached” their 13-year-old son, Maceo. For those unaware, on October 1, Berry accused Martinez of physically attacking their son.
Halle Berry opposes son’s testimony in custody battle
According to the publication, Berry shared, “Van Hunt (“Van”) was physically present during the incident and is the only adult third-party eyewitness to the events at issue,” she explained.
“Nahla Aubry has lived with Halle and Maceo for virtually Maceo’s entire life and is uniquely situated to observe their relationship, family dynamics, and Halle’s parenting over many years.”
Berry continued, “Rather than welcome testimony from these witnesses with direct personal knowledge, Olivier dismisses their observations while elevating the testimony of a neurodivergent thirteen-year-old child who has spent the last two weeks primarily in Olivier’s care and with whom Olivier admittedly has been discussing the allegations, the litigation, and his anticipated testimony.”
The mother of two asked the court to be cautious about placing “substantial weight” on the testimony of her teenage son, whom she described as a “coached and manipulated child” by her ex-husband.
“Under these circumstances, the Court should be particularly cautious before placing substantial weight on testimony from a coached child who has been repeatedly discussing the case with the parent seeking relief while discounting the testimony of adult witnesses with direct personal knowledge of the relevant events,” she said.
In a statement, Martinez's lawyer, Patrick Baghdaserians, wrote, “We vehemently deny such allegations. We are not surprised that the opposing party does not want the child Maceo to testify. The opposing party is seemingly scared of what the child will say.”
Olivier Martinez says son wants to testify
In court documents obtained by PEOPLE earlier this week, Martinez said that Maceo wants to address the court “to provide his side of the story.”
“He should have the opportunity to have his voice heard regarding what he experienced that night,” Martinez wrote in his declaration.
“If he is prevented from addressing the Court regarding these allegations, I fear that he would be dissuaded from reporting problems or potential abuse in the future,” Martinez added. He went on to say that he anticipated Berry would try “to prevent our son from addressing the Court directly.”
He explained that their son’s testimony would be “key to the Court learning the full truth about the events that occurred on September 26th.”
