Guard ' saw Jackson perform sex act on boy '

SANTA MARIA, California - Michael Jackson had oral sex with a young boy at his Neverland Valley Ranch more than 10 years ago, a former security guard has testified.

Ralph Chacon, who worked the overnight shift at Neverland between 1991 and 1994, told the jury he heard the American pop singer and the boy, who was 9 or 10 years old, in the shower and later saw Jackson caressing the boy's hair, kissing him on face and sucking his nipples.

"He put the little boy's penis in his mouth," Chacon said.

"Did you actually see that?" prosecutor Tom Sneddon asked.

"Yes," Chacon replied, adding that Jackson's kisses were "very passionate" and that the singer's hands were "all over" the boy's body.

Chacon's testimony was the most explosive so far in Jackson's trial on sex abuse charges involving a 13 year-old boy in 2003. The trial, now in its second month, has already heard testimony from the alleged victim and another young man who said they were masturbated or groped by the singer when they were minors.

Chacon named the boy he had seen with Jackson on one night in 1993 as the youth who reached an out of court settlement with the entertainer for a reported US$23 million ($32.68 million). Jackson was never criminally charged in that case.

Chacon was one of a number of witnesses called by the prosecution to demonstrate what they say is a penchant by Jackson for molesting young boys.

In the current case, Jackson is charged with committing lewd acts on a 13-year-old boy at Neverland in early 2003 and plying the youth with alcohol in order to molest him. He is also accused of conspiring with his associates to commit false imprisonment, child abduction and extortion.

The singer has pleaded innocent. He faces more than 20 years in prison if he is convicted on all 10 counts.

Prosecutors say that over the past 15 years Jackson has formed suspicious "special friendships" with a series of adolescent boys.

Jackson's lawyers say that his accusers have been motivated by the prospect of lucrative settlements with the performer. They have portrayed the teenager at the centre of the current case as a liar who was goaded into inventing the abuse by his mother.

Jurors have already heard this week from a 24-year-old man who broke down in tears on the witness stand as he described being fondled three times between the ages of 7 and 10 by Jackson during what were ostensibly tickle sessions.

The man's mother, a former Neverland maid, testified on Tuesday that Jackson regularly shared his bed with Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin and another boy -- whom she once discovered showering with the pop star.

The mother and her son also reached a civil settlement with Jackson for more than US$2 million in the mid-1990s. Jackson was never charged with a crime in that case.

Representatives for Culkin, who insists that Jackson never behaved inappropriately with him, say he will not take part in the trial.

- REUTERS