Court hears woman is haunted by the "silly grin" of man who allegedly abused her

Wednesday 28 February 2018

The jury in a sexual abuse trial has heard that a woman who claims she was assaulted by 49-year-old Antony John Quant when she was 11 years old remembers the “silly grin” he had when he touched her.

Mr Quant was accused of 23 counts of sexual abuse on three children in the 1970s and 1980s. These charges were reduced to 20 in the Royal Court yesterday; including eight counts of indecent assault, eight counts of rape and four counts of sodomy - all of which he denies.

On the fourth day of the trial in the Royal Court, the jury of five men and seven women heard evidence from one of the women accusing Mr Quant of indecent assault. Shielded from the defendant by a screen, the woman described how she screamed and shouted at the 49-year-old, “Get away, what are you doing? Get away!” She said: “I remember him having a silly grin on his face, I didn’t recall him saying anything, he may have done but I don’t remember.”

The woman told the jury the incident upset her but she put it down to a 'daft moment’, calling Mr Quant a “stupid idiot.”

But she said another incident occurred when he allegedly exposed himself to her, again with a "silly grin" on his face. When asked how she felt by Crown Advocate Emma Hollywood, the woman replied: “I felt frightened, I was only 11 but you knew it wasn’t right and I was on my own with him so knew he was going to try and grab me again. That silly grin, you could tell on his face he was excited and enjoying what he was doing.” 

The witness told the jury the alleged abuse escalated when Mr Quant started touching her “down below” on a number of occasions over a few months. She said when it happened: “He used to talk to me in a nice voice, a calm voice. I was 11 years old, I had no concept of what he was actually doing.

She added: “I didn’t understand that it was a sexual act at that time, so I didn’t have those feelings. It just felt not right, it felt strange.”

The woman told the jury that Mr Quant used to give her sweets, chocolate and money, and told her “not to tell anybody” each time he allegedly abused her in “the same calm voice.” She said she didn’t tell anybody as she didn’t think she would be believed, and the alleged abuse stopped when she lied to Mr Quant saying that she had spoken to her friends.  

Pictured: Antony Quant is on trial at the Royal Court for 20 counts of sexual abuse including indecent assault, rape and sodomy. 

The woman made a formal complaint against Mr Quant to Police in 1992 - the same year the defendant was also accused of sexual abuse by another person. When she heard the case had been closed in 1993, the witness said she felt “frustrated, angry and upset." "It was upsetting to make the statement to tell the police what happened,” she added. She said she was left feeling distressed after finding out that there was another claim of sexual abuse against Mr Quant, saying: “If I had spoken up when it happened to me, it may have stopped it from happening to her. I felt so guilty that I hadn’t spoken up [earlier].”

The jury heard that the woman didn’t initially make another formal complaint when the case was reopened by Police in 2016, but she said she changed her mind, saying: “I can’t change what happened to me, but by telling my story it may stop it happening to anyone else.”

Defending Mr Quant, Advocate Sue Pearmain asked the woman why she never spoke of the alleged abuse when it happened. The witness replied: “I only knew what happened to me, he didn’t rape me, he didn’t have intercourse with me, it was just grabbing and putting fingers in me… It was a long time before I knew it was a criminal offence, I didn’t think the courts would bother with it.”

Advocate Pearmain accused the woman of sharing details of her alleged abuse with the other complainants, and questioned if she was motivated by a compensation award. The woman replied: “It’s not something I want or need as it would feel like I was paid for what happened, like I was a prostitute. The police officer ticked the box. Compensation is not important to me at all, I have enough money to live on.”

Pictured: Antony Quant denied the allegations during police interviews in 1992 and in 2016.

The prosecution also called the police officer in charge of the case, Detective Constable Rob Manners, to give evidence. He read out transcripts of the 1992 police interview with Mr Quant where he denied the allegations, and the 2016 police interview where Mr Quant refused to answer questions on the alleged abuse, claiming they were “all lies.”

In Court, DC Manners also explained that the witness statements include a number of questions which have to be legally answered, including two on compensation. The Police Officer told the jury: “Even if its something they don’t consider at the time, it’s a box they still have to tick.”

Advocate Pearmain questioned whether DC Manners was concerned that there had been some emails about compensation by one of the complainants. He replied that he was and a decision was made to take further action after the trial so as not to prejudice it.

To give character references for Mr Quant, the defence called his son and a former employer to the stand where they described him as a hard-working, trustworthy family man.

The prosecution and defence are due to summarise their cases today when the trial continues.