Alleged teen abuse victims deny inventing allegations for money

Wednesday 27 February 2019

Two islanders who claim they were "touched inappropriately" by an older man when they were teenagers have strongly denied fabricating the claims in order to gain compensation.

The two alleged victims’ rebuttal came in response to grilling from defence Advocate Mark Boothman on the second day of the Royal Court trial of Lee Albert Phoenix (42), who stands accused of six counts of indecent assault. He denies the charges.

Having previously claimed he was too “embarrassed” to speak out until now, the first alleged victim, who claimed Mr Phoenix touched him "inappropriately" on or around his genitals on more than one occasion, continued his testimony yesterday.

Pictured: The Court has heard evidence from both of the alleged victims in this case who claim that Lee Albert Phoenix sexually abused them as teenagers.

Representing Mr Phoenix, Advocate Boothman challenged the man about inconsistencies between what he had said in court and statements he made to the Police and suggested that his account was fabricated. 

He denied making up the allegations, explaining the discrepancies in his evidence by saying that at the Police station it was “easier to go through the stuff than it is standing here with you criticising me."

Crown Advocate Julian Gollop, prosecuting, called another witness to the stand, who said he saw Mr Phoenix looking at the first alleged victim’s genitals when he was sleeping.

They told the Royal Court that Phoenix had said: “I just want to check how big [he] is” before “pulling up [the first alleged victim’s] trousers and looking down when he was asleep.” 

Pictured: One of the alleged victims said that "it was easier" to recall the alleged abuse at the Police Station rather than in Court.

Asked by the Defence Advocate whether he was “sure that that happened”, the witness replied that he was “100%” sure. 

Tuesday’s hearing also saw the second alleged victim take to the witness stand, where he recalled “being touched up” by Mr Phoenix when he was younger.

He said this alleged abuse made him “really uncomfortable” and that he didn’t tell anyone because he was “scared”. “[I] just wanted to black it out,” he told the Royal Court. 

Similar to the first alleged victim, Advocate Boothman challenged the truthfulness of his claims, going so far as to suggest the pair had made them up in order to gain compensation. Both denied this was the case.

Pictured: The trial of Mr Phoenix in the Royal Court is ongoing.

DC Shaun Michael Richards, who investigated the case and was involved in arresting Mr Phoenix, brought the prosecution's case to a close with his testimony. 

The defence called no witnesses, meaning that the jury has now heard all the evidence in the trial.

Today, both Advocates will sum up their cases. The Bailiff Sir William Bailhache, presiding, will then summarise all the evidence of the trial and advise the jury regarding the law before they retire to consider their verdict. 

The trial continues.