It was almost midnight when 11-year-old Deja Chambers heard a knock on her grandparents’ apartment door.

When she answered it, she found a naked, handcuffed woman standing outside shaking.

Chambers was the first witness today in the rape trial of Jason Anthony Bill, a former Cobb County sheriff’s deputy.

Bill, 40, is charged with the kidnapping, assault and rape of an illegal woman from El Salvador. The two lived in the same apartment complex, Harmony Meadows, off S. Cobb Drive in Marietta.

After escaping from Bill, the woman knocked on the door of the apartment where Deja Chambers was staying, according to opening remarks by the prosecutor.

Assistant District Attorney Chuck Boring said that evidence in the trial would show that Bill used his influence as a law enforcement officer to kidnap the alleged victim, who speaks very little English, and get her back to his apartment.

“Abuse of power and praying on the weak,” Boring said, “That’s what this case is about.”

As Boring told the jury about the graphic testimony they would hear, Bill stared at the defense table. Wearing a charcoal gray pinstriped suit, the Iraq war veteran sat at the end of the table with his two attorneys

Defense Attorney Philip Holloway said that the alleged victim is lying and that her motivations are financial. She has filed a lawsuit against Bill, the county and the apartment complex, Holloway said.

“They chose to ignore her inconsistent statements,” Holloway said. “Their biggest assumption is that she was telling the truth.”

Holloway also said that as a certified crime victim by prosecutors, the woman can file for a certain kind of visa, allowing her to stay in this country with her child.

On the night of July 14, 2008, Bill was at a local bar and restaurant, the Corona, in Marietta. He had been drinking, Boring said.

Bill became angry at the alleged victim, a waitress in the bar, and accused her of stealing his cell phone, Boring said. Bill showed her his badge and told her she was coming with him.

Bill put the alleged victim in his truck and handcuffed her before taking her back to his apartment where he held a gun to her head and made her perform oral sex, Boring said.

Bill raped and beat her with a belt before she was able to escape while Bill answered a knock at his door, Boring said.

The woman ran to the neighbor’s house and pointed at Bill as he rode by on his motorcycle, according to trial testimony. 

It wasn’t until police arrived that the Spanish-speaking woman could be understood completely. Bill was arrested the same night.

He’s charged with kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault, aggravated sodomy, rape and false imprisonment.

The alleged victim, through an interpreter, had begun her testimony as the day came to a close.

The trial is expected to run into next week.