(USA TODAY by Marisol Bello) A cousin of the man charged with killing an unarmed teen told Florida authorities that the neighborhood watch volunteer molested her for 10 years when they were children, according to evidence made public Monday.
The release of the explosive statement comes after last-minute efforts by George Zimmerman's attorney to keep it sealed.
"This irrelevant statement should be withheld from public dissemination because of the substantial risk that the public disclosure will lead to widespread hostile publicity," said Zimmerman lawyer Mark O'Mara, on his website, gzlegalcase.com.
O'Mara said he will defend Zimmerman against the woman's allegations and release unspecified evidence about her statements.
Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin, 17, after the two got into an altercation on Feb. 26. He has pleaded not guilty, saying he acted in self-defense.
The woman, identified only as Witness 9, was not a witness to Trayvon's killing. She called police a month after the shooting.
The woman's 27-minute recorded interview and 145 telephone calls Zimmerman had while in jail are part of a court-ordered release of evidence by prosecutor Angela Corey.
The woman tearfully recounts incidents she said began when she was 6 and Zimmerman was 8 and she and her sister stayed with Zimmerman and his family.
She said Zimmerman assaulted her numerous times, groping her with his hands, kissing her, fondling her inside her pants and inserting his fingers in her vagina.
"I wanted to make it stop, but I didn't know how," she told investigators. She said she never said anything about the alleged abuse because she was scared.
She said the last incident occurred when she was 16 and they were in a house his family owned in Lake Mary, Fla. She said he told her to lay on a bed, then laid down next to her and tried to massage her. She said she ran out of the room and the house and took off in her car.
In 2005, when she was 20, she said she told her sister and parents that "something happened," but didn't provide details. She said she came forward now because, "for the first time in my life, I'm not afraid of him."