SAN DIEGO - A woman who told police her estranged husband raped her after abducting her and their 3-year-old son recanted her story Monday, prompting a judge to dismiss a sexual assault charge, but he still faces other felony counts.
Maria DelCarmen Carmona testified during a five-hour preliminary hearing that Adelaido Nunez -- the father of three of her children -- raped her in his San Diego home after abducting her and their son from the parking lot of the Northgate grocery store at 1410 S. 43rd St. last June 25.
Carmona, 24, testified that she was with Eduardo Bueno Salvidar and a 4-month child they had together when they drove her grandmother to the Southcrest market to do some shopping.
Carmona said she was loading the groceries into Salvidar's SUV when Nunez pulled up about 10:30 a.m., grabbed her, struck her with a cell phone and threw her into his pickup truck.
She testified that Nunez drove her and their son to his nearby residence, then took her into a bedroom, locked the door and had sex with her while the boy watched Spiderman.
Monday afternoon, during questioning from Deputy District Attorney Dino Paraskevopoulos, Carmona said the truth was that she and Nunez had consensual sex that day, and that no rape occurred.
She said she initially told police the opposite because she was mad at the defendant for abducting her from the store.
"He took me against my will, but we had sex because we both wanted (to)," Carmona told the prosecutor.
The woman told Paraskevopoulos that she didn't want to see Nunez do a lot of time in prison so he could be around for their children.
Judge John Thompson dismissed a charge of spousal rape, but said enough evidence had been presented for Nunez to stand trial on two counts of kidnapping and one count each of domestic violence, false imprisonment and misdemeanor child endangerment.
Nunez faces a maximum of 11 years and four months in prison if convicted.
His trial was set for Dec. 8.
