Eleanor Gordon Smith

I've seen the videos.

It's the 80s, a very small Nicole is in pigtails and white stockings.

Corwin's in a big plaid shirt and shaggy hair.

And he asks right away about Nicole's mum.

She says her mum burned her feet over a hot stove.

Corwin tries to figure out if Nicole knows the difference between what's real and what's make-believe.

He asks her to separate things like President Reagan, real, which she knows, from things like Superman, make-believe, which she also knows.

He gets her to swear on her oath as a brownie that what she said about her mother is real.

She does.

She holds three little fingers up in the brownie salute.

There are other concerning details about Nicole's mum.

Once, she had dropped Nicole off to see Dr Corwin for one of their recorded sessions.

And Nicole, who'd seemed happy to be recorded and speak clearly into the microphone when her dad dropped her off, is suddenly concerned that the microphone would broadcast what she's saying into the waiting room where her mum sits.

Corwin asks her about the abuse she described the week before.

Does she remember talking about that?

A little bit, Nicole says quietly.

Okay, she whispers, before going on to talk about being burned and touched in the bath.

In another interview, Nicole says her mother's told her to lie.

She's talking about CPS, Child Protective Services.

So that's the video of six-year-old Nicole.