Teenager accused of raping young girl (From Swindon Advertiser)

Teenager accused of raping young girl

2:50pm Tuesday 29th January 2013 in News

A TEENAGER accused of raping a girl under the age of 13 appeared before court yesterday.

Samuel Preece, 18, of Redhouse, faced 10 charges at Swindon Crown Court yesterday including sexual assault of a girl aged under 13, and rape. He denies all charges.

The alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in court yesterday after making claims to her school nurse that she was sexually assaulted.

The alleged incidents took place between 2004 and 2010 and, according to the girl, with the severity of them increasing over time.

The victim said something first happened with Preece when the pair were playing hide and seek when she was seven.

She remembered them hiding under the duvet and Preece saying that he would be the bed and she should be the duvet and lay on top of him face-to-face.

The events allegedly escalated from there until three days before her 13th birthday, when Preece is accused of seriously sexually assaulting her.

The teenage girl said in court: “I don’t know when it all started happening but I know he was very forward with me – he used to hug me in a different way.

“I had a meeting with the school nurse and she asked me why I had anger issues and why I didn’t talk to people and I told her about the abuse.

“I used to pretend I was asleep when it was happening, so he didn’t realise I was awake. I was scared.”

The majority of the incidents happened in a house when other people were present, and when asked during cross examination why she did not just call out and scream she said it was because she was scared and ashamed.

Marcus Davey, defending said: “Did you try to jump down and run out of the room?”

“No,” she responded.

“Why not?” he asked.

“I was just scared, I didn’t know what to do,” she said.

The allegations were made by the victim in May last year after she had found herself in trouble at school and was sent to see the school nurse.

During their meetings, the girl said she told the nurse about the incident before her birthday, and then her parents and the police were informed by the school.

The victim’s parents both gave evidence yesterday and recalled how they returned home on the day before her birthday after they had got a call from her in hysterics, but were only told that Preece had touched her leg at the time.

They were not made aware of the accusation of rape and sexual assault until the school contacted them last May.

The case continues.