With crossed arms and pursed lips, the mother of an alleged child molestation victim scowled at one of the defense attorneys during her cross-examination.

"Tonya and I weren't talking anymore. (But) I wasn't holding a grudge, I'm not that type of person," the woman told one of the attorneys for former Chickamauga Elementary School teacher Tonya Craft.

Ms. Craft, a former kindergarten teacher, is charged with 22 counts of child molestation, aggravated sexual battery and aggravated child molestation. The charges involve three children.

After being questioned for several hours on Monday, the mother of the alleged victim, now a 9-year-old girl, said she and Ms. Craft had a falling out before the molestation allegations were made in 2008.

The mother, whose name is not being disclosed to protect the identity of the alleged victim, testified that her daughter was in Ms. Craft's class in the 2005-2006 school year.

She said her daughter told her in May 2008 that Ms. Craft had touched her inappropriately in the bathtub and in the kitchen when she visited the teacher's home.

The mother testified that she asked her daughter about Ms. Craft only because her daughter was talking about another girl in a questionable situation and she could tell that her daughter had something more to say.

In a courtroom full of spectators, the witness said, "I was in total shock. I would have never thought that my daughter would say that to me."

Defense attorney Scott King kept a steady tone throughout his cross-examination. At one point, he focused on an incident in which her child had become upset during a birthday party at Ms. Craft's home.

When the daughter wanted to leave the party early, Ms. Craft told the girl that she was being mean and that she wouldn't give her a ride back to her house, the witness testified.

When Mr. King asked if her daughter had told her about Ms. Craft touching her after that incident, she responded, "She told me then, 'She hated Tonya.'"

After that incident in January 2008, the daughter stopped going to Ms. Craft's house, and the mother said she stopped talking to Ms. Craft.

"You didn't want to know the adult version (of the story)?" Mr. King asked.

She said no, explaining that she already had observed characteristics in Ms. Craft that she didn't like. Before that incident, she and Ms. Craft had been friends, she testified.

Mr. King showed the witness several photos of her daughter with Ms. Craft, smiling at Ms. Craft's wedding. Asked if her daughter appeared nervous or upset around Ms. Craft, the witness became angry and said, "She's smiling for a picture."

Mr. King then suggested that the child didn't show any signs of anger toward Ms. Craft until after the alleged 2008 incident at the birthday party.

The witness said that was true.

Both the mother and the first witness, Sherry Wilson, said the molestation allegations didn't come out until May 2008.

At that point in the cross-examination, she closed her eyes and took a long time to respond.

"In May 2008, that was the first time I noticed a deep hurt inside her," she said.

WHAT'S NEXT

The state will resume calling its witnesses Tuesday morning.

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