A Florida court heard testimony on Friday afternoon from a grandmother who said she witnessed a couple having sex on a public beach.
April Champ told the jury in Bradenton, 20 miles south of Tampa, that “she knew based on the movement” that Elissa Alvarez and Jose Caballero were engaged in coitus on Cortez Beach last July.
Champ said her grandchildren, aged two and four years old, were present during the couple’s alleged intercourse, the Bradenton Herald reported. Alvarez, 29, and Caballero, 40, are charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition and face up to 15 years in jail.
The older grandchild was the first to observe the alleged public frolicking, Champ said.
The child, then three years old, reportedly began looking at the allegedly impassioned couple and asked her grandmother: “What are they doing?”
Champ told the court that she looked across at Alvarez and Caballero and responded with surprise.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Champ said. “I was like: ‘What!?’”
The Bradenton Herald reported that Champ observed Alvarez and Caballero “moving like they were having sex”, although Champ told the court she was not able to observe either of the couple’s genitals and did not witness penetration.
Champ said she attempted to draw her grandchild’s attention away from the animated couple.
“[The child] wanted me to explain what they were doing,” she said. “I redirected her and we looked at seashells.”
A second Champ matriarch, great-grandmother Victoria Champ, was also present at the beach that day and also gave evidence in court, the Herald reported.
The elder Champ said that upon witnessing the writhing couple she withdrew her cellphone and began filming them. She shot a 25-second clip which was shown in court.
Victoria Champ’s footage reportedly showed Alvarez “moving on Caballero in a sexual manner” atop a blanket on the beach.
April Champ’s daughter, Emily Hall, had been away from the beach making sandwiches during the incident, the court heard. When Hall returned, her mother and grandmother pointed out the couple’s alleged indiscretions, prompting Hall to approach Alvarez and Caballero and ask them to stop.
“[Caballero] seemed angry based on his body language,” April Champ said. She told the court that Hall’s intervention did successfully blunt the couple’s alleged caressing, but a couple of hours later they began acting amorously again.
“They were touching each other and kissing, so with that I just took the kids and walked to the pier,” Champ said.
Ronald Kupiers, representing Alvarez and Caballero, asked April Champ how she could be sure his clients were having sex, given she had seen neither genitals nor penetration.
“I knew based on the movement,” Champ said.
The trial was set to conclude on Friday afternoon.
