Trial of ex-teacher accused of sexually assaulting teens begins

Tuesday 15 January 2019

The alleged sexual abuse victim of a 66-year-old former teacher has told the Royal Court she still feels “dirty” after what she says was done to her as a teenager.

The testimony came during the opening day of the trial of Ian David Priestley, who stands accused of six counts of indecent assault, and four counts of procuring acts of gross indecency, with two teenage girls between the 1990’s and 2000’s.

Mr Priestley, who formerly worked at Les Quennevais and Le Rocquier, denies all of the charges brought against him. 

Crown Advocate Julian Gollop opened the prosecution’s case by explaining the nature of the charges and summarising the accusations that have been made against Mr Priestley to the members of the jury, made up of five women and seven men.

The first of the alleged victims, who is now an adult, then gave evidence before the Court about the two times she says Mr Priestley indecently assaulted her when she was a teenager. 

Pictured: Ian David Priestley's trial is taking place throughout this week in the Royal Court.

On one occasion, she says that Mr Priestley asked her to lie down on the floor and pull up her top before proceeding to massage her back.

The woman described this occasion: “It was the sort of thing you would do to a partner. I did what he asked, I didn’t know what to do. He was rubbing my back right down to the back of my trousers. He was aroused and he let me know it.”

When asked by the Crown Advocate how this alleged incident made her feel, she said that she was “absolutely terrified” and it made her feel “dirty."

Visibly upset, the woman said: “It just made me feel dirty. I could never get myself clean since. Even if I shower twice a day, I just feel dirty… I never feel clean.”

Later on, the alleged victim also told the jury of another occasion where she claims that Mr Priestley “cornered” her and kissed her, trying to put his tongue in her mouth and his hand up her top. “All the time I was pulling away”, the woman explained, “I said ‘don’t’ and I pushed away… I had no defence… I had no one to protect me." 

Speaking about the longer term impact that the alleged indecent assaults have had on her, the woman said they had affected her ability to trust people, particularly men. “It’s affected my trust in people… I was very wary of men. I didn’t like to get involved with men, I thought they were going to hurt me.”

The woman also said that she had “wanted children when [she] was younger," but changed her mind after the alleged assaults because, she said, “I just didn’t want anything like that to happen to a child of mine and I didn’t think I would be able to protect them.”

When asked by Crown Advocate Gollop why she had taken so long to come forward with her allegations against Mr Priestley, the woman replied: “I didn’t think anybody would believe me… I kept it in and I just struggled on with life as best I could.”

Pictured: The alleged victim told the Court that she decided not to become a mother due to the indecent assaults she claims to have suffered at the hands of Mr Priestley.

Advocate Ian Jones, defending Mr Priestley, tried to challenge the woman’s recollection by pointing out the time that has lapsed between now, and the alleged incidents taking place.

He explained that his client has a different version of events with regards to the first accusation, namely that she had been “complaining of a sore back or shoulders” and that the woman had asked him to massage her back. Advocate Jones emphasised that Mr Priestley denies being sexually aroused. 

Advocate Jones also questioned the alleged victim over her struggles with mental health, which at one point caused her to suffer “hallucinations." He queried whether this would have impacted her ability to recall the alleged incidents accurately.

However, throughout the Defence Advocate’s questioning, the alleged victim maintained that her version of events was the truth. “It happened and he knows it did,” she insisted. 

The alleged victim’s mother and partner also briefly gave evidence before the Court during yesterday's sitting.

Mr Priestley has also been accused of indecently assaulting and procuring acts of gross indecency with another woman, who was a teenager at the time of the alleged offences. She is due to testify in Court today.

The trial, which is being presided over by Royal Court Commissioner Sir Michael Birt, continues.