Woman accuses man in rape trial

Claude Donnelly faces a total of 16 charges of offences against the girl

A woman has told a court how she was raped by a Jersey man when she was a teenager.

Claude Donnelly, 69, admits two counts of indecent assault but denies nine of indecent assault, one of procuring an act of gross indecency and four rapes.

Mr Donnelly allegedly started assaulting the defendant in 1967, when she was eight, the Royal Court heard.

The prosecution says his abuse got worse over the years, escalating in repeated rapes when she was 12 and 13.

I don't think it was right but it was handed to me on a plate Claude Donnelly to police

Advocate Mike Preston, defending, put to the claimant that the sex she had with Mr Donnelly, known as Jimmy, was consensual, and she replied: "I did not have sex. I was raped by Jimmy Donnelly."

Mr Preston suggested the claimant was a precocious young girl who, as a 13-and-14-year-old would rarely wear underwear. She replied that this was nonsense.

The claimant said she did not speak about what Mr Donnelly had done to her as a child because she believed she would be sent to a children's home.

The jury heard Det Con Steven Monahan read out sections from the transcript of a police interview with Mr Donnelly.

In the excerpts, Mr Donnelly told the police he did repeatedly have sex with the complainant, but that it was never against her will.

Mr Donnelly reportedly said: "I don't think it was right but it was handed to me on a plate."

The case continues.