The Assize trial is being heard in the Royal Court
A WOMAN told a jury yesterday that, as a girl, she suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of the latest man to appear in court as a result of the historical abuse inquiry.Clutching a tissue and red-faced from crying, the woman said that the abuse began when she was eight with ‘prolonged cuddles’ which progressed to touching and culminated in rape when she was 14.
The woman, now in her 40s, was giving evidence in the first day of the Assize trial of Leonard Miles Vandenborn, of Route de St Jean, St Lawrence.
The 62-year-old accountant, who was arrested as part of the historical abuse inquiry, is accused of indecently assaulting a second woman when she was a girl and it is likely that she will give her evidence today.
Mr Vandenborn denies 14 counts of indecent assault and one of rape, all of which are alleged to have happened over a 12-year period beginning in the 1970s.
Article posted on 9th April, 2010 - 2.59pm
Woman tells of ‘years of abuse’
Abuse trial continues
By Carly Lockhart
A WOMAN broke down in the Royal Court yesterday as she described how years of sexual abuse as a child had affected her life ‘massively’.
She became so distressed when giving evidence in the Assize trial of Leonard Miles Vandenborn (62) that proceedings were momentarily halted because she felt ‘too sick’ to carry on.
Visibly shaking and holding her stomach, she told the jury in vivid detail that accountant Mr Vandenborn, of Route de St Jean, St Lawrence, began indecently assaulting her when she was nine, and that the abuse continued frequently until she was 15.
She is the second woman to give evidence against Mr Vandenborn, who denies 14 counts of indecent assault and one of rape. The two women, now in their 30s and 40s, allege that the offences took place over a 12-year period beginning in the 1970s.
The trial continues on Monday.
Article posted on 10th April, 2010 - 2.59pm