Listen to The Children

THE CHILDREN SPOKE SOLEMNLY OF SODOMY, ANImal sacrifice, fire and snakes. One boy claimed that Robert Kelly Jr., who operated the Little Rascals day-care center in Edenton, N.C., prayed to the devil. A girl said Kelly, the balding former golf pro they called Mr. Bob, raped and drugged her, then photographed her performing sexual acts with another child. Another boy said Mr. Bob took the children on a boat trip and pushed him overboard to the sharks.

Though some of the children's tales verged on the fantastic, their testimony proved strong enough to convict Kelly, 44, on 99 counts of sexually abusing a dozen children at his preschool in this remote town perched on the edge of Albemarle Sound.The verdict brought to an end the longest (eight months) and most expensive (estimated cost: $1.2 million) trial in North Carolina history. Often compared with California's landmark McMartin Pre-School case, whose defendants were ultimately acquitted, the trial aroused heated passions in the bucolic community of Edenton, where many residents were torn between outrage over the alleged crimes and fears that they had unleashed a witch hunt.

Judge D. Marsh McLelland sentenced Kelly to serve 12 consecutive life terms, one for each victim, ages four to seven. "I am innocent," said Kelly, who plans to appeal the convictions. "I have not done these things." As he left the courthouse in nearby Farmville after his sentencing, several children, some of whom came to court clutching teddy bears and dolls, yelled "I hate you." Spat one young girl: "See you in a million years."