Commonwealth v. Smith

Convicted by a Superior Court jury on two indictments charging indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of fourteen (G. L. c. 265, § 13B),1 the defendant appeals, claiming the judge committed reversible error in permitting a *182witness to testify to what the complainant, Jane,2 told the witness fifty-one months after the last alleged incident of sexual abuse. We agree with that contention and reverse the convictions.

The Commonwealth’s pertinent evidence, adduced primarily through Jane’s testimony, was as follows. In 1987, when Jane was six years old, the defendant moved into the…