What is the difference between a child witness refusing to answer questions about sexual assault allegations against an adult witness?

There is, however, a significant difference between an adult witness who refuses to answer questions and a child witness who does the same. As explained in People v. Giron-Chamul (2016) 245 Cal.App.4th 932 at page 967: An adult witness's difficult and defiant conduct, such as refusing to answer questions, gives rise to an inference that the testimony the witness does give is not believable. But [a] similar inference does not arise when a child witness has difficulty answering questions. Indeed, a child's reluctance to answer questions, especially about sensitive subjects such as molestation, may enhance the child's credibility to the extent it suggests that whatever happened is too traumatic for the child to discuss.

Here, S.M.'s refusal to answer questions about the alleged molestation because she did not want to tell strongly suggested that S.C. had done something traumatic to her. Due to her refusal, the prosecutor was unable to elicit any response at all regarding what he had supposedly done, however. And her steadfast refusal to answer questions about the allegations essentially rendered any attempt at cross-examination futile. Defendant was thus denied a full and fair opportunity to probe and expose the infirmities in S.M.'s prior accusations against him. (United States v. Owens, supra, 484 U.S. at p. 558.) Because S.M. refused to answer any questions about the allegations against S.C., her limited responses while on the witness stand cannot be considered testimony as required by Evidence Code section 1360.