Man admits fathering girl's child
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/8267920.stm Version 0 of 1. A 55-year-old man accused of raping his step niece who fell pregnant at 14 has agreed he is the father of her child. But he told a jury at Cardiff Crown Court he had not found out until much later once DNA tests were carried out. The court has been told the man's niece was repeatedly abused as a child by him and later in life also by her stepfather, 50, and step-cousin, 27. The three, who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny 22 charges of rape and indecency. The 55-year-old told the crown court jury he came to the UK in 1985, living with the girl's family at first in England and then in Cardiff. The prosecution claims that when the girl was five he started sexually abusing her. Relationship It is claimed the abuse restarted when the girl returned to Cardiff when it is alleged he raped her. Under questioning, he first denied having had sex with her. However, he later said that it happened twice - the first time when she was 14. He told the court it took place when he came back from work during the early hours of the morning and the girl came into his bedroom. Asked about their relationship, he said they had "an uncle and niece" type of relationship before she went away. On her return it became more friendly. Asked if he was the father of the child, he replied through an interpreter that if "she is saying that I am the father I agree with that". Curtain rail The man said he only found when the police asked for DNA tests to be carried out. The woman, who is now 27, claims her mother beat her when it was discovered she was seven months pregnant. He agreed that her mother was angry, but denied watching as the girl was hit with a curtain rail. The court heard the woman allegedly told her mother that her step uncle was the father but was not believed. After the birth her mother and step father insisted on bringing up the boy as their own. The man said he offered to marry the girl but she refused. Outside of marriage She went back to India after the baby was born and did not return until after an arranged marriage some years later. The step uncle denied that the abuse continued until she was 22. He was asked by prosecutor Marian Lewis if he realised he could have been the father. He denied knowing and he told the court that the girl said it had happened at school. He agreed that it would be considered shameful to have sex at such early age and outside of marriage. He said the way the girl was brought up no-one would want to marry her if she had had a child. The trial continues. |