Women Confront Larry Nassar in Court: 'My Silence Ends Today'

He gave them gifts, invited them to his house, and brought them ice packs and wiped away the blood when they were injured. He called them nicknames, like “goofball.” The young women, many of them aspiring gymnasts, considered Dr. Lawrence G. Nassar their advocate, a sports medicine “guru” who would help cure them of their pain.

But on Monday, nearly a half dozen of them, one by one, spoke in a Michigan court on the fifth day of Dr. Nassar’s sentencing with statements about how, after winning their trust, he sexually molested them. They described being misled as children and teenagers, saying that they saw Dr. Nassar as a trustworthy savior who consoled them or wiped blood from their faces, and as a man they looked up to as a prominent doctor in gymnastics.

As dozens of women did last week, they gave remarks that went beyond the emotional and graphic stories of sexual abuse by Dr. Nassar when they were sent to him as young gymnasts. In the morning session Monday, at least half a dozen asked how the abuse could have gone on for decades, and why organizations — such as the gymnastics governing body and Michigan State University, his employer — enabled him or turned a blind eye.

Several top board members of U.S.A. Gymnastics resigned on Sunday, including its chairman, vice chairman and treasurer.

Back in the courtroom, the women addressed Dr. Nassar directly.

“You violated my body,” said Amanda Smith, 26, speaking about a time when Dr. Nassar told her at 14 years old to bend over so he could check the alignment of her spine.

Bailey Lorencen, 22, said gymnasts waited until hours after the gym closed to fit into his schedule. “Looking back now as a woman I am appalled what my child self went through,” she said.

Another, Marta Stern, said that when she was a child gymnast, he molested her until she was so “sore and raw” that she had to lean the seat back during the drive home. She was seeing him for treatment for back pain.

“Your monstrous acts have taken away so much from so many,” Ms. Stern said.

She said she felt “soreness, self loathing and humiliation” after the abuse.

“My silence ends today,” said Ms. Stern.

As the women approached the podium, they were welcomed by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina of Ingham County Circuit Court, who called them “survivors” and said she would hear statements from more than 140 women altogether, possibly through Tuesday. Dr. Nassar, who has already received a 60-year sentence for child pornography, will be sentenced after the statements are finished.

After each of them spoke, the judge addressed them again, encouraging them to leave their painful memories behind.

“No sister survivor warrior’s voice goes undiluted here,” the judge said. “You are the new generation of super heroes. Congratulations.”

The testimony has come from Olympic level and aspiring athletes. Last week, Aly Raisman, 23, who won gold medals at the past two Summer Olympics, and a teammate at the 2012 London Games, Jordyn Wieber, were among the women who identified themselves in the court as victims of Dr. Nassar.

Many of the women who have spoken so far have said that they wished at one time to remain anonymous or to not join the parade of accusers who faced Dr. Nassar, sitting in front of them in handcuffs, in court. But as the statements, broadcast live, continued last week, they said they were emboldened by solidarity.

On Monday morning through the early afternoon, about half a dozen of the 96 speakers so far had stepped up to the podium.

Dr. Nassar pleaded guilty in November to seven counts of sexual assault, and his sentencing hearing, which began last Tuesday, has been growing as the number of women who have wanted to speak in court has grown.

At one point, a lawyer sitting next to Mr. Nassar objected to Judge Aquilina when Ms. Lorencen called out the defense team’s support for Mr. Nassar, including the exchange of smiles, and at one point a lawyer placing an encouraging hand on his shoulder.

“I think you have thick enough skin to let it go where it should,” the judge told Dr. Nassar’s lawyer, allowing Ms. Lorencen to continue.

The case and testimony has had an impact outside of the courtroom as the women and teenagers have called on those who employed Dr. Nassar, including the Twistars Gymnastics training center, M.S.U., U.S.A. Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee.

Many asked why representatives of those organizations were not attending the hearing.

Emma Ann Miller, 15, said that she was molested by Dr. Nassar multiple times after being seen by him monthly as a 10-year-old. Ms. Miller said she was still getting billed by Michigan State for “treatments” for the last time Dr. Nassar assaulted her in August 2016.

She said that the sentencing hearing was just the beginning, and that those who enabled the abuse to continue since the 1990s, even after getting reports of it, would be held accountable.

Addressing Dr. Nassar directly, she urged him to use his final statement to set the record straight, and to tell everyone in the court who knew what and when, so that others could be held accountable.

“Do the right thing for us, be honest,” she said. "One of your last public acts, actually help someone.”

“You need to confess the facts,” she said.

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