The father of a 6-year-old boy murdered in the Sandy Hook school shooting says “pyscopaths like Alex Jones” made it impossible to heal during his testimony at the Infowars founder’s defamation trial on Tuesday.
Neil Heslin labelled Jones as “cowardly” for skipping his testimony and lambasted the talking head for his false claims that the mass shooting, sharing that Jones’ theories left his family living in a constant state of fear.
“What was said about me and Sandy Hook itself resonates around the world,” Mr Heslin testified at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday.
“As time went on I truly realised how dangerous it was... My life has been threatened. I fear for my life, I fear for my safety.”
Mr Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of Jesse Lewis, are suing Jones for $150m for spreading false conspiracy theories about the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that claimed 26 lives in 2012.
Mr Heslin said the chance to testify had been “a long time coming”.
“To face Alex Jones for what he said and did to me. To restore the honour and legacy of my son.”
During cross-examination from Jones’ attorney Andino Reynal, Mr Heslin was asked about his knowledge of the Infowars site and where the conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax had originated.
He said that Jones was “the one who lit the match and started the fire”, with others “bringing him wood to keep it going”.
Mr Reynal then asked whether Mr Heslin had a vendetta against Jones.
“I don’t have a vendetta,” he replied. “Alex started this fight, I’ll finish this fight.”
Taking the witness box just before the lunch break, Ms Lewis said she had first heard about the conspiracy theory soon after her son was shot in 2012.
She told the court she’d been shocked when Hells Angels motorcyle gang members showed up to her son’s wake five days after his death.
“Then I found out that they were there to keep the peace, which was surreal to me, to make sure there wasn’t a disturbance at the wake,” she said.
Ms Lewis was asked about a doctored photograph claiming to show Sandy Hook victims singing at the Super Bowl in 2013, about two months after the school shooting.
“It was deeply unsettling,” she said.
Ms Lewis said she had purchased a gun for self defence after a man with a weapon showed up to her home one day.
After the lunch break, Jones arrived at the court for the afternoon session.
Addressed the Infowars host directly, Ms Lewis said Sandy Hook was a “hard truth”.
Ms Lewis said her son Jesse had led nine children to safety when the gunman’s assault rifle had jammed or run out of bullets, saving their lives.
“To come on and say that Jesse never existed, that is was a hoax. I know there are hoaxes out there but this was an incredibly real event, and I lived it.
“It is unbelievable that you would continue to say that it didn’t happen” she said.
“Do you think I’m an actress?”
She said the fact that a quarter of Americans doubted that Sandy Hook had taken place endangered all children.
The court was then played an Infowars clip that Jones had filmed as Mr Heslin was testifying earlier in the day.
In it, Jones baselessly speculated that Mr Heslin was on the autism spectrum, “slow”, and “being manipulated by some very bad people”.
After the footage was played, Ms Lewis described it as “horrific”.
Jones is expected to testify later on Tuesday.
On Monday, forensic psychiatrist Roy Lubit told the court that both parents were suffering post-traumatic stress disorder after receiving years of death threats and abuse.
The company that owns Inforwars, Free Speech Systems, was placed into bankruptcy late last week.
