Father of Nassar victims says he sent his daughters "to a demon"
CHARLOTTE, Mich. -- An anguished father heard for the first time exactly how Larry Nassar sexually assaulted his daughters when they were teens. It was just too much to bear.
"I would ask you to as part of the sentencing to grant me five minutes in a locked room with this demon," said Randall Margraves.
"No, sir, I can't do that," Judge Janice Cunningham said.
"Would you give me one minute?" Margraves asked.
"You know that I can't do that," Cunningham said. "That's not how our legal system--."
Margraves then lunged at Nassar, who was sitting nearby.
People could be heard crying in the courtroom as Margraves was restrained, and later escorted out in handcuffs.
Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis told families in the courtroom to "use your words," not violence.
The attack came near the end of the third, and final, sentencing hearing for Nassar, with victim after victim facing their abuser often with their parents at their side. Margrave's daughters were among a group of 30 victims from an elite Michigan gymnastics club.
"I lost control, I apologize a hundred times," he said.
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Hours later, Margraves was back in in the courtroom facing contempt charges.
"I came here in support of my daughters. I gotta hear that and I look over here and Larry Nassar's shaking his head, 'no,' like it didn't happen."
Those charges were thrown out and we spoke with him after his release.
"I'm no hero, my daughters are the heroes," he said. "My daughters and the other victims."
Later, Margraves told us what he wanted to do in a room with Nassar.
"I did not think about wanting to kill him, but I did want to inflict some pain," he said.
We asked if he feels any guilt about sending his daughters to see Nassar, he said: "Yes there is."
"I ended up delivering, unknowingly all three of my daughters, to a demon that had his own personal, twisted, sick agenda," he said. "I will never forgive that guy."
