ALFRED — Giovanni Whiteman offered to untie himself and go downstairs to help his stepfather, Winston George, who was being attacked by intruders, but his mother told him it was too dangerous.

Whiteman, 15, took the stand Wednesday, the third day of the murder trial of George’s wife, Darlene George, and her brother, Jeffrey Williams in York County Superior Court. The two are facing charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to Winston George’s death.

George, 44, was found dead in his 56 Smithwheel Road home in Old Orchard Beach on June 20, 2008. The cause of his death was asphyxiation, according to Marguerite DeWitt, the Maine Deputy Chief Medical Examiner. George was found in the basement of his home tied up with a plastic bag over his head and a liquor bottle shoved in his mouth.

Rennie Cassimy, a former tenant of the Georges, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to commit murder as part of a plea deal. An earlier charge of murder was dropped.

Whiteman is living in a foster home in Old Orchard Beach, and has just completed his sophomore year of high school. As he testified Wednesday, he was dressed in a white dress shirt and tie and was well composed.

On June 19, 2008, the day before his stepfather died, Whiteman said he was preparing for a month-long trip to New York stay with relatives. He had recently graduated from Loranger Middle School. He and his stepfather, whom he called “Pop,” went out to lunch that day and Winston bought a new car, he said.

That night, Whiteman said he and his mother did some shopping to pick up some items for his upcoming trip, went to TGI Fridays for dinner, then to the grocery store and the bank.

They came to the house around 11 p.m., and Whiteman said he noticed the lights were on in the basement of the house, which he thought was unusual.

Whiteman said when he was inside, he saw people peeking out of two rooms in the hallway. After he turned on a bathroom light, Whiteman said a man with a stocking over his face and a knife in his hand took him down.

The man had latex gloves on and his skin tone was a “brownish” color, said Whiteman. He said he tried to fight back, but his mother told him not to resist. Another man attacked his mother.

Whiteman said he was lifted up and put on a bed in his mother’s bedroom, blindfolded with a pillow on his head. He said the blindfold was askew, and he could see reflections from the hallway in the headboard. He said that the intruders put his mother in the room.

Whiteman said he later heard his stepfather come in the house. As soon as he came in, he said, there was fighting, then he asked about the family, then prayed, and then nothing.

“It went silent,” he said.

Whiteman told his mother he could untie himself and help Winston George, or put a dresser in front of the bedroom doorway, but he said his mother told him it was too dangerous.

In the early morning of June 20, Darlene George took Whiteman’s cell phone to call 911, telling him to stay put in case the intruders came back.

Whiteman said he and his mother talked on the phone every day while she was at work and she helped him with his schoolwork. He said his stepfather worked a lot, but was fun when he was around.

Whiteman said that his mother and stepfather got along fine, but sometimes fought at night after he went to bed.

Whiteman said he had only met his uncle, Jeffrey Williams, a couple of times. He said he had seen Rennie Cassimy less than 10 times at Cassimy’s New York apartment and approximately two times in Maine. He said when Cassimy stayed in a hotel near Palace Playland when in state.

“I haven’t seen him a lot,” he said.

Whiteman said that he had a difficult time understanding Cassimy, who is from Trinidad Tobago, but was able to understand what he referred to as “fake Jamaican accents” from the intruders.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.