Viola Kansas: Trial of Robert Abner continues; Victim testifies

Viola clerk describes abduction
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
via http://www.kansas.com/
Jaime Oppenheimer/The Wichita Eagle
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Robert Abner is charged with robbing, kidnapping and sexually assaulting Joyce Patterson and accused of holding her at his north Wichita rental home for about four days before releasing her. Joyce Patterson was on the witness stand for all of Thursday morning.
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WICHITA - When the armed robber ordered cashier Joyce Patterson to the bathroom of a Viola convenience store last June, she froze.
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She took a step back -- away from the bathroom.
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She was "freaking out" because she thought that if he took her to the bathroom, he would kill her, she testified Thursday in Sedgwick County District Court.
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After she hesitated, he grabbed her wrist, took her to the door of the rural store, looked around and told her to run with him to his car parked just up the road.
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But lawyers defending Robert Abner tried to show through their questioning that Patterson wasn't forced to go with him and wasn't forced to have sex with him.
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The 40-year-old Wichita man is charged with robbing, kidnapping and sexually assaulting Patterson while holding her for four days.
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The prosecution maintains that Patterson submitted to Abner because of a constant fear that he would shoot her.
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Some of her first words after the robber came into the store, wearing a disguise and holding a handgun on her, were, "Don't kill me, don't kill me," she said.
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The lead prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Marc Bennett, asked her if she had a choice whether to go with the robber.
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"No. He has the gun," she replied. "I couldn't take my eyes off the gun."
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According to Patterson:
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After he ordered her to get into the car and get down, she begged him to let her out as he drove around for an hour or more. At one point, she felt him put the gun to her side. "Just remember," he said.
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He told her he knew her daughter also worked at the store and thought both of them were cute.
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After he pulled up to his home, he blindfolded her. Once inside, he tied her up and stuffed something in her mouth. He took it out when she told him she couldn't breathe. Then he taped something, possibly a sock, over her mouth.
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"Holler if you want. Nobody's going to hear you anyway," he said.
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He told her he had a 100-pound attack dog.
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She wore a blindfold or kept her eyes closed or looked away from him. She didn't want to be able to identify him -- and told him so.
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During that first day of captivity, he told her: "We have a problem. You know who I am. You know my name." He thought she had seen his mail in the car.
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The bedroom where he kept her had a window, covered with blinds. She was afraid to try to flee because she thought he would quickly catch her -- and he had the gun.
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He told her he would have her home by 10 that first night. "I just wanted to go home," she testified. But he didn't let her go that night...
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Her disappearance triggered a wide investigation and media attention.
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She pleaded with him: Drop her off somewhere...
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At times, he asked what she wanted to eat and drink, and he brought her things: Dr Pepper, Cap'n Crunch, ham sandwiches and Virginia Slims to smoke. He tied her up when he went out for groceries.
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Watching television
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He brought her out to the living room and hung something between them so she couldn't see him while she watched TV and he played computer "war games."
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He talked a lot. He told her he was hiding from the CIA, she said.
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He let her watch a newscast where she saw her family and the family's minister plead for her safe return.
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"I'm going to miss you when you're gone," he told her. She wasn't sure what that meant...
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He had taken her from the store on a Monday afternoon. By Thursday, he said he was going to give her clothes back and drop her off at the pastor's home. But she was nervous.
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He might be taking her somewhere to kill her, she thought. They drove off, with her blindfolded. She still hadn't seen his face.
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Then suddenly, he said, "Get out. Get out." She stepped out of the car, took off the blindfold and tossed it behind her. The man had left her outside the pastor's home.
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She rang the minister's door bell twice. "I was scared he wasn't home," she testified. When the pastor came to the door, stunned that she was there, she told him she wanted to go home.
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When it was the defense team's turn to question Patterson, Deputy Public Defender Jama Mitchell focused on instances where Abner did something for Patterson. When Patterson said that Abner rubbed lotion on her feet, Mitchell repeated the words as a question, "Put lotion on your feet?"
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Mitchell asked Patterson how she reacted during the sex. "I was just lying there, waiting for it to be over," Patterson said.
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Abner's sister testifies...

Abner's sister, Sharon Abner, testified that he admitted to her that he had robbed and kidnapped a store clerk...
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Sharon Abner said she asked her brother why Patterson didn't leave his home when he left to get food. He didn't answer, she said.

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