Rapes never happened, says Haverhill defendent
A Haverhill man accused of raping a teenage girl has told a jury that the attacks never happened.
Anthony Farrant, 51, was giving evidence at his trial at Ipswich Crown Court, describing the girl’s allegations as “completely untrue.”
Farrant, of Eastern Avenue, has pleaded not guilty to six charges of rape, three of oral rape, two of assault by penetration and one of sexual assault.
It is alleged by the prosecution that Farrant had raped and sexually abused the teenager over a three year period.
On Tuesday Farrant went into the witness box to tell the jury of seven women and five men that there was no truth in any of the allegations which they had heard the girl make in a 90 minute DVD recorded interview.
Giving evidence, Farrant said that on one occasion when the girl claimed she had been raped by him in a lane in Haverhill, he had given her a lift in his car but said nothing inappropriate had taken place.
Farrant strongly denied raping the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
He said that he had delivered her safely to her home.
Asked by defence barrister Jonathan Goodman if he had ever raped, sexually abused or taken indecent photographs of the girl, Farrant replied: “No, certainly not.”
Farrant told the court that he had been shocked when police arrived at his home in February last year to arrest him on suspicion of the offences.
He said: “I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was surreal. I was dumbstruck and didn’t know what to say.”
Farrant said a medical condition meant that he was unable to have spontaneous sex with anyone. He said it would take at least an hour for his prescribed medication to take effect.
Allegations that he had made threats about what would happen to the girl if she told anyone what was alleged to have happened were untrue, he said, as were claims that he had injured her.
At the end of last week, the jury heard a friend of the alleged victim speak of how she became concerned about the health of her friend.
On Thursday, speaking via a video link, the friend told the jury that she discovered the girl was self harming and had developed anorexia.
The teenage friend who often spent weekends with the girl said some of her injuries were obvious, including bruising to the face and a blistered scar on her hand.
The jury heard allegations that when the girl had gone to her GP to seek treatment for an infection, the doctor had noticed bruising around her groin which the girl had tried to explain away by saying it was from play fighting.
She had dismissed concerns about the injuries and her refusal to eat saying “Don’t worry about me”, said the friend who believed the girl was hiding something.
Earlier when the alleged victim gave evidence, the court was told that she had turned to self harming in an effort to make herself appear less attractive to Farrant.
The trial continues.
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Weather for Haverhill
Thursday 20 June 2013
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 12 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
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Thunderstorm
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