MAINE
Portland Press Herald
BY SCOTT DOLAN STAFF WRITER
sdolan@pressherald.com | @scottddolan | 207-791-6304
Orphanage founder Michael Geilenfeld describes the first cell where he was kept during his 237 days in a Haitian prison as “my picture of hell.”
There were 95 men yelling and fighting, sweating and smoking, while crammed so tightly together in a single room with overflowing sewage that they could not lie down, he said.
Geilenfeld told members of a jury about his imprisonment while testifying Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland in the trial of his lawsuit against Freeport resident Paul Kendrick.
Geilenfeld has accused Kendrick of defamation for an email campaign falsely alleging he sexually abused the boys at the orphanage in Haiti and for using those false allegations to have him arrested and imprisoned by Haitian authorities.
“Literally like sardines, you were shoulder to shoulder. You could kneel on the floor, but you couldn’t stretch out,” Geilenfeld testified, describing the first prison holding cell in Haiti where he was held for six days.
Tuesday was Geilenfeld’s second day on the witness stand, first answering questions Monday and Tuesday morning by his attorney, Peter DeTroy, followed by cross-examination by Kendrick’s attorney, David Walker.
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