Feb. 15—WILKES-BARRE — A Pittston Township man called allegations by his wife's daughter that he sexually assaulted her during the 1980s, "disgusting."

"I would never do something like that," Samuel Duque, 70, testified in his own defense before a Luzerne County jury Wednesday.

Closing arguments by Duque's attorneys, Ellen Mary Granahan and William Abraham, and assistant district attorneys Shana R. Messinger and Jarrett Ferentino, are scheduled for this morning before the jury weighs testimony presented over the two-day trial before Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. Duque is facing two counts of indecent assault and one count each of statutory rape and corruption of minors.

Duque was charged in November 2021, by Pittston Township police after the woman reported he sexually assaulted her inside his Doty Street residence beginning when she was 7 or 8-years-old in 1981 and lasting until 1989, when she turned 16.

Throughout the trial, Duque's attorneys argued that the woman falsely accused Duque out of jealousy that her mother favored her half-sister, who is the biological daughter of Duque. His attorneys further blamed Pittston Township police for "blindly accepting" the woman's account without conducting a thorough investigation.

The half-sister, who testified Wednesday, believes the entire case "makes no sense" and told the jury the woman and their mother would have "explosive fights." She further said the woman "sometimes fabricate things."

A year before the woman reported the allegations to police, the half-sister testified the woman and Duque would be in the same swimming pool.

The woman's biological mother, who is Duque's wife, said she was first confronted with the allegations in 2014 during an argument about money missing from the home.

"I didn't believe it, Sammy isn't like that at all," the mother testified. "I love my kids, I would do anything for them."

After a separation period in 2014, the woman resumed her relationship with her mother until 2020 when a text message chain discussing the presidential campaign angered the woman.

The mother testified her daughter in the text chain blamed Duque and two other family members of sexually assaulting her.

"She's a liar," the mother said of her daughter.

As the woman testified Tuesday her mother forced Duque walk her down the aisle when she got married in 1994, the mother explained it was the woman's choice to have Duque walk her half-way and her biological father walk her to the alter.

Messinger and Ferentino said the woman's statement about being sexually assaulted has been "consistent" through the years by telling her first husband and her second husband in 1999 or 2000 about the alleged assaults.

Pittston Township police Officer Ruddy Navarro said statements he took from the woman and four witnesses were similar despite the alleged sexual assaults taking place more than 35 years ago.