PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia man accused of sexual battery says he has no recollection of assaulting the family babysitter because he was sleepwalking.

The babysitter said she caught Scott Axelberg with his hand in her underwear in the middle of the night in 2004. Axelberg is on trial for aggravated sexual battery.

His lawyers argue that a person cannot be guilty if he or she isn't aware of what you’re doing.

“I don’t remember anything, and when I do have something to remember, it was a dream-like situation,” Axelberg testified in court Wednesday, reported FOX affiliate WAGA.

A doctor for the defense testified that sleepwalkers can cook, drive and even have sex without waking up, WAGA reported. But on cross-examination, the prosecutor accused Axelberg of using sleepwalking as an excuse.

Axelberg had admitted to an investigator that he in fact did touch the babysitter. But he told jurors Wednesday that he just said that to end the interview.

“It didn’t matter what I said at that time,” Axelberg said. “[The police office] had already read my rights. No matter what I did, that man was going to arrest me.”

Axelberg appears to have some recollection of what took place. A doctor testified for the prosecution that when people suffer from what is called “sex-phobia” or “sex-somnia,” they never have any recollection of what they did in their sleep. So the fact that Axelberg has some recollection is startling, they said.

The babysitter, who was 16 on the night in question, said she was watching the defendant’s toddlers overnight so that Axelberg and his family could get an early start to his son’s baseball tournament, reported WSBTV.com.

She said she woke with a start from her slumber on the couch when Axelberg put his hand in her pants.

"He got up off his knees and he buttoned both buttons on his shorts and zipped up his pants and walked into his bedroom," the girl said, reported WSBTV.com.

Closing arguments in the case begin Thursday.



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