Alleged rape victim kept quiet for over 30 years as “it was in everybody’s best interest”

Monday 26 February 2018

A man who claims he was raped as a child told a court jury that he was held down and assaulted on a number of occasions, but didn’t tell anybody as he felt “it was in everybody’s best interest to keep quiet.”

49-year-old Antony John Quant is on trial in the Royal Court for 23 counts of abuse, including 10 counts of indecent assault, eight counts of rape and five counts of sodomy, on two girls and a boy between the 1970’s and 1980’s. He denies all the charges.

Speaking over a video link due to health problems, the man who claims he was sexually assaulted and raped by Mr Quant recalled the first time it allegedly happened. He told the jury of five men and seven women: “...he had his arm on me, initially I thought it was reassurance. It started changing, I started to feel more uncomfortable, I wasn’t having the reassurance I was getting beforehand, that’s when things started to not be pleasant anymore.”

He said the alleged abuse intensified over the years with Mr Quant using his right arm to hold him down while he raped him. He said: “I was very confused, I felt very uncomfortable…it was painful” describing that he “sobbed” afterwards.

Crown Advocate Emma Hollywood asked the man why he didn’t tell anyone at the time, he replied “I thought about telling them, but I didn’t as I didn’t think I would be believed. I decided to keep quiet.”

He said Mr Quant started to buy him sweets near the time the alleged abuse started, which he now believes was to keep his silence.

The Court heard that the alleged abuse stopped after the man fought back. Over the video link the man told the jury he was able to stop Mr Quant as he allegedly tried to “pin” him down because he was “a bit heavier and a bit bigger” by that stage.  He said he punched Mr Quant in the stomach after telling him “this is wrong,” which he said put an end to the alleged sexual abuse.

Pictured: Antony Quant is standing trial in the Royal Court for 23 counts of sexual abuse on three children in the 1970's and 1980's. 

Although the man had heard a police investigation was underway in 1992 - as another person had accused Mr Quant of sexual abuse - he didn’t make a police complaint saying: “at the time I was intent on keeping it at the back of my mind and not bringing up the memories” adding that he didn’t want to “stir up emotions” and he felt “happier to leave it.”

When Advocate Sue Pearmain, who is defending Mr Quant, pressed the witness on this, and he said he didn’t report his experience in 1992 as “I thought it was in everybody’s best interest to keep quiet…looking back on it I don’t know why.”

The Court heard that the man first spoke about the alleged sexual assault to a girlfriend in 2000 but he “didn’t go into any great detail.” In 2014, the man was emailed by one of the other people who alleged Mr Quant sexually assaulted them. He told that person that he had been abused, but the jury heard that in his email exchange he said he wasn’t sure about disclosing information about his own experience due do the impact it would have on his mother, and he thought this person was more concerned about a compensation claim, rather than what happened to him.

It took another two years before the man made a formal complaint to police in 2016, when he was asked to come forward. He said by that time he felt ready and strong enough to give a statement about the alleged abuse, which would enable him to finally “bring it to light and be able to put it behind me.”

The defence suggested that he only came forward to assist the other people’s complaints and that the alleged abuse didn’t happen at all. The man told the jury: “I know the abuse happened. I wasn’t aware immediately of the abuse to the others. I know what happened to me and Tony is the person who abused me.” He went on to say: “I will be able to sleep better knowing there is a conviction for what he has done.” 

The trial continues.