Two-decade-old sexual offence allegations come to court

Tuesday 10 April 2018

A man has been charged with eight counts of indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 13, between February 1999 and February 2004.

The 33-year-old man, appeared for the first time in Guernsey's Magistrates Court on Monday 9 April to face the charges, as well as an additional charge of indecently assaulting the same defendant in July of 2016.

He will now re-appear in court on 16 May so the case can be committed to the island's Royal Court, where he will later enter his pleas. He has been bailed until then with conditions including not making contact with five named people. 

Advocate Peter Ferbrache, acting on behalf of the defence, applied for reporting restrictions on the grounds that both the defendant and claimant were children at the time of eight of the nine charges. Judge Cherry McMillan rejected that application, however. 

Advocate Ferbrache also suggested he "strongly denied the allegations", though no formal pleas have yet been submitted.