Here is some of the most powerful testimony to have emerged during the charged hearings in Lansing, Michigan, where Nassar was Wednesday sentenced to up to 175 years in jail for criminal sexual conduct:
Little girls… strong women
Kyle Stephens, Nassar’s former babysitter, told a hushed courtroom on day one of the hearings how he abused her from age six to age 12 at her family home — and said she believed her father’s suicide was precipitated by his one-time defense of the doctor, a longtime family friend.
“Perhaps you have figured it out by now but little girls don’t stay little forever,” she told the 54-year-old. “They grow into strong women that return to destroy your world.”
‘You are nothing’
Gymnastics star Aly Raisman — one of the so-called “Fierce Five” 2012 Olympic gold medal-winning squad — faced down Nassar in searing testimony, and assailed sporting officials who seemingly let him act with impunity.
“Larry, you do realize now that we, this group of women you so heartlessly abused over such a long a period of time, are now a force and you are nothing,” said the 23-year-old, who was moved to testify by the stream of other victims coming forward to denounce Nassar.
“The tables have turned, Larry. We are here, we have our voices, and we are not going anywhere.”
“You already know you are going away to a place where you won’t be able to hurt anybody ever again, but I am here to tell you that I will not rest until every last trace of your influence on this sport has been destroyed, like the cancer it is.”
‘Thought I was going to die’
Fellow Olympian McKayla Maroney told of the “scars” left by Nassar’s abuse, recounting that during a Tokyo trip he gave her a sleeping pill and she awoke to find him molesting her. She was 15.
“I thought I was going to die that night,” Maroney said. “He abused my trust. He abused my body. And left scars on my psyche that may never go away.”
Nassar’s abuse, she said, “has imposed a terrible and undeserved burden of guilt on my loving family.”
Pit stop in hell
Taylor Livingston testified that she was 13 years old when she was first abused by Nassar during a medical appointment, while her terminally ill father sat across the room unaware of what was happening.
“He died without knowing that I was assaulted by this man,” Livingston said, before addressing Nassar directly:
“When you die, you’re going to hell. But there will be a pit stop on the way where you’ll have to face my dad, who now knows exactly what you have done.”
“And when you do, you will suffer.”
‘Send a message’
Former gymnast Rachael Denhollander was the first woman to publicly come forward against Nassar and file a police report against him.
“This sentence will send a message,” she told the court ahead of Nassar’s sentencing. “How much is a little girl worth? How much is a young woman worth?”
Now married with two daughters and a son, Denhollander said she was abused by Nassar at age 15.
“He did this with my own mother in the room,” she said. “I assured myself it must be fine because I could trust the adults around me,” she said, charging that “victims were silenced, intimidated and even forced to go back.”
“I pray you experience the soul-crushing weight of guilt.”
‘No white flag’
Addressing the slight, bespectacled Nassar ahead of his sentencing, the former gymnast Sterling Riethman told him his abuse had created “an army” of survivors.
counting,” said the 25-year-old, directly addressing the disgraced doctor but also sporting authorities at USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic Committee and Michigan State University where Nassar worked.
“And let me tell you, this army isn’t going anywhere.”
“We are here to show you,” she said, “there is no white flag to wave when it comes to protecting little girls and their futures.”
“We are 150 women strong and counting,” said the 25-year-old, directly addressing the disgraced doctor but also sporting authorities at USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic Committee and Michigan State University where Nassar worked.
“And let me tell you, this army isn’t going anywhere.”
“We are here to show you,” she said, “there is no white flag to wave when it comes to protecting little girls and their futures.”