20/04/2010

Man Denies 17 Child Abuse Charges

A Milford Haven man has gone on trial accused of 17 counts of sexually assaulting three young people.

Sixty-three year-old Michael McGuire of Greville Road has pleaded not guilty to the charges which relate to two girls and a boy and date back as far as the early 1980s.

One complainant - none can be named for legal reasons - said she was sexually abused after she visited Mr McGuire's home for help with her homework.

He faces counts of rape, indecent assault and indecency. The trial began in Swansea Crown Court on Monday and is expected to last five days.

The court heard the offences happened between 1981 and 1987, when the youngest of the victims was six.

The first seven charges relate to a girl who was 11 years old when the sexual abuse is alleged to have started. They cover the period 1981 to 1987, and include five charges of rape.

Six relate to another young girl, and are all of indecent assault. She was aged between 10 and 14 when they allegedly happened, again in the early 1980s.

The remaining four charges cover a period from 1983 to 1987, and relate to a boy who was six when the abuse allegedly began.

Huw Rees, prosecuting, said the offences all happened at the defendant's home in Milford Haven, where he lived with his wife and child.

He said: "They were so young at the time they didn't think what the defendant was doing to them was even wrong."

The court heard the police were made aware of the alleged offences in 2008. Mr McGuire was arrested and charged shortly after.

Monday's hearing heard from the complainant who charges one to seven relate to, including the most serious, those of rape.

The woman, who is 39 now, described going to Mr McGuire's home as a young child. She said she remembered going there from the age of eight.

She said Mr McGuire told her she was his girlfriend, and the woman told the court that he described himself as her boyfriend.

He told her that he loved her but said she must not tell anyone else about what was happening, she said.

Mr McGuire denied sexually abusing the complainant or either of the two children. He denies all 17 charges.

(LB/GK)

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