Witness: Court gunman’s son feared for children’s safety

(AP) – A prosecution witness says a man whose ex-wife was killed by his father at a Delaware courthouse expressed concerns about the safety of his three daughters before kidnapping them and taking them to Central America.
    
The 2013 shooting of Christine Belford by Thomas Matusiewicz followed a bitter custody battle during which former optometrist David Matusiewicz kidnapped his daughters in 2007.
    
David Matusiewicz, his mother, and his sister are now being tried on federal conspiracy and cyberstalking charges related to Belford’s death.
    
After the kidnapping, David Matusiewicz’s claim that he was trying to protect his daughters from abuse by Belford was rejected as an excuse made up after the fact.
    
But a former friend and patient of Matusiewicz testified Monday that he expressed concerns before the kidnapping about his children’s safety.