"Disgusted" defendant accuses alleged child abuse victim of "attention seeking"

Monday 26 November 2018

A man accused of rape and sexual assault against two children described the allegations made against him as "attention seeking" in a Police interview, protesting that he is only interested in "women, not little girls", the Royal Court has heard.

The comments from Jason Mark Le Chevere (43) came to light in a Police interview read to a jury on Friday, the third day of a trial against him.

In total, Mr Le Chevere denies 13 counts of "sexual interference of the most serious kind" with two young girls - 11 of indecent assault, and two of rape.

On Friday, the Court heard testimony via video link from the second, younger girl, who claims that Mr Le Chevere raped her twice.

Defence Advocate Ian Jones, representing Mr Le Chevere, questioned the child about conversations she had with various people about the alleged rapes in an attempt to point out inconsistencies in her story. 

Pictured: Both the young, alleged victims in this case have given evidence before the jury via video link.

The alleged victim described herself as being “too scared” and “worried” to tell people about the full nature of abuse she says she endured from Mr Le Chevere.

Answering questions from Crown Advocate Simon Thomas, the young girl insisted: “I am telling the truth about it."

Her comments came after the jury had been shown several hours of taped Police interviews with the older of the two alleged victims, who on the second day of the trial appeared via video link to speak about the emotional impact the alleged abuse has had on her life.

The prosecution also read statements from the alleged victims' social workers. A key worker for the older of the two alleged victims said that the girl had trouble sleeping because of her “anxiety and insecurities” and had also been “self-harming by superficially cutting her wrists.”

Pictured: The trial of Jason Mark Le Chevere began in the Royal Court last week.

Crown Advocate Thomas also called DC Alexandra Le Chevalier, the officer in charge of the case, and read out transcripts of Police interviews with the defendant. During one of these interviews, when the allegations of the older girl were put to him, Mr Le Chevere said: “I haven’t done that. I wouldn’t do that. I like women, not little girls.”

He also said that the accusations made him feel “disgusted” and described it as “attention-seeking in the worst extremity.”

The evidence of DC Le Chevalier brought the prosecution case to a close and the defence will open their case today.

The defendant has maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings and is out on conditional bail whilst the trial is underway. Royal Court Commissioner Sir John Saunders is presiding over the trial and a verdict is expected later on this week.