Man, 82, is accused of historic sex offences against two girls

Five of the matters relate to the first girl, along with another of common assault.

He allegedly committed two sex offences against the second girl. The man denies all matters.

Opening the case in the Royal Court, Crown Advocate Fiona Russell said the allegations dated from between 1988 and 1991 and occurred at a property in St Peter Port. Both complainants were of primary school age at the time.

Counsel said three of the charges pertaining to the first girl had involved her being made to engage in sex acts with other children. When she complained about one of the offences and swore at the defendant, he lifted her by hair and took her into her into a bathroom where he forcibly washed her mouth out with soap.

The court was told that in October 1991 the defendant had been jailed for five months by the Magistrate’s Court on two counts of indecently assaulting another female child.

The second girl in the current proceedings had provided a witness statement in that case, though the defendant was not, or had not been convicted of any offences against her.

Advocate Russell said the court might find that what the girl was saying now was consistent with what she had said in her witness statement in 1991.

In interview, the defendant said that the second girl had ‘concocted a story’ with the woman involved in the 1991 case, and said it was false.

In his first interview, he denied knowing the first girl.

He then asked to be interviewed again, admitted that he did recall the child, but said she must have been confused.

If anything had happened, it must have been done by another person.

The current proceedings began in 2022 when the first woman made a complaint to police. The defendant has been on conditional bail throughout the proceedings. One condition is that he must have no unsupervised contact with under-16s other than inadvertently in the course of everyday life.

Four witnesses, including the two complainants, are due to appear for the prosecution and the case is not expected to concluded until next week.