Suggesting that the children he and his father are accused of abusing were led by investigators to make false statements, Esten Ciboro told a jury Monday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court to be careful.

“Just because someone is charged with something doesn’t mean they’re guilty,” he said in an opening statement he made on behalf of himself. “That’s important to remember as jurors.”

Esten, 28, and Timothy Ciboro, 53, both of the 800 block of Noble Street are charged with multiple counts of kidnapping, rape, and endangering children for allegedly shackling a 13-year-old girl by the ankle in their basement and sexually assaulting her and a younger child in their North Toledo home.

Both men are acting as their own attorneys, even though neither has been to law school. They asked no questions of prospective jurors when it was their turn, and a jury of nine men and three women was seated by 2 p.m.

IN PICTURES: Trial of Timothy, Esten Ciboro begins

Both appeared to be writing furiously as Judge Linda Jennings gave the jury instructions before opening statements were made.

Jennifer Reed, an assistant county prosecutor, painted a dark picture of the Ciboros’ home where three young children had been left in Timothy’s care. She said the evil was uncovered May 18 when Karen Loudermill saw a 13-year-old girl who had run away, talked with her, and contacted police.

“[The girl] described a crime scene at 825 Noble, a scene that included her instruments of captivity — those handcuffs, those chains,” Ms. Reed said.

“In the house [police] found those handcuffs, those chains exactly where [the victim] said they would be — down in a basement with spider webs, a bucket of ammonia, and a bucket for the child to sit on,” she said.

The girl’s ankles were scarred around the ankles because of the ongoing shackling she endured, Ms. Reed said.

“Her prison was both physical and mental,” she said.

In his opening statement, Timothy Ciboro reminded the jury that anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

“When things are presented to the jury here, the truth needs to come out,” he said. “The truth needs to come out, and we need you to know the facts. Are they the facts of what they’re saying happened or are they the truth? We want the truth to come out.”

He and his son, who had gotten permission to bring their Bibles to court for the trial, both made references to Bible stories they felt paralleled their own situation — stories in which things were not as they appeared.

“A long time ago, a man was brought before a judge, and the judge asked what he had done and the people that brought him said to the judge, if he wasn’t guilty we wouldn’t have brought him before you,” Esten said. “... The judge investigated the matter and he found no fault with him.”

The first witnesses are to be called about 9:30 a.m. today. The trial is expected to last all week.

Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.

First Published January 24, 2017, 5:00 a.m.