Woman says daughter was initially calm when she told her she had been repeatedly raped as a child by Coronation Street actor
A mother wept on Tuesday as she recalled the moment her daughter told her she had been repeatedly raped as a child by the Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell.
The woman said she and the girl had been attending a conference in London together when the alleged victim, Miss X, revealed details of her alleged ordeal.
"She just said it like she wasn't saying anything," the mother told a jury at Manchester crown court. "She was just very calm. I just stood and hugged her, held her hand and walked. She said: 'It's like evil comes over him, he doesn't know he's doing it. It's stopped now.'"
Miss X later became upset when they returned to their hotel room. "She was upset for a long time," her mother said. "At about midnight I phoned my sister and said: 'I don't know what to do'.
The girl lay on top of her and eventually fell asleep in the early hours of the morning. "At 6am she woke up, opened her eyes and said: 'Am I safe now? Am I safe?'"
Eleanor Laws QC, prosecuting, asked the mother what she understood Le Vell to have done to her daughter.
She replied: "I believed he had molested and abused her on a regular basis and that there had been a number of rapes."
Le Vell, 48, who plays car mechanic Kevin Webster in the ITV soap and is appearing in court under his real name, Michael Turner, is accused of five counts of rape, three of indecent assault, and two each of sexual activity with a child and causing a child to engage in such activity. He denies all the charges.
The prosecution alleges that he started abusing the girl by slipping his hand under her clothing as she lay in bed. On one occasion he is said to have raped her as she clutched a teddy bear.
He allegedly told her: "It's okay, just keep calm, stay asleep … I'm going to get rid of the evil."
Earlier, as she gave evidence from behind a screen, the girl rejected an assertion by Le Vell's barrister, Alisdair Williamson, that none of the abuse had happened. "It did," she said.
When Williamson questioned why she recalled more now than she had when first interviewed by police, the girl said her memory had been improved by a series of recent flashbacks.
The barrister put it to her that while attending the London conference she had heard a speaker tell of how she had been raped as a five-year-old but then rebuilt her life.
She agreed that she had told relatives in Manchester: "It's alright, I'm part of a special group now."
Williamson said: "You were so excited that your mother thought it weird."
The girl replied: "I was anything but excited."
Laws asked the girl whether there had been anything at the conference that gave her the idea of lying about the defendant. "No," she said.
Miss X said her recollections of the attacks had recently improved, after she re-read transcripts of her three video-link interviews with police.
"I had a lot of flashbacks," she said, sobbing. "Reading it was very difficult because I'd never seen it written down before and it hurt. What he did to me was so wrong and I was so young at the time."
When asked by Laws why she made the allegations the girl replied: "Because they're true".
Laws: "Why continue with them?"
Miss X: "Because they're true."
The barrister then asked: "Have you some kind of vendetta against the defendant, any reason to hate him or want to bring him down?"
"No," the girl said.
The trial continues.
Nigel Bunyantheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Reported by guardian.co.uk 40 minutes ago.
A mother wept on Tuesday as she recalled the moment her daughter told her she had been repeatedly raped as a child by the Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell.
The woman said she and the girl had been attending a conference in London together when the alleged victim, Miss X, revealed details of her alleged ordeal.
"She just said it like she wasn't saying anything," the mother told a jury at Manchester crown court. "She was just very calm. I just stood and hugged her, held her hand and walked. She said: 'It's like evil comes over him, he doesn't know he's doing it. It's stopped now.'"
Miss X later became upset when they returned to their hotel room. "She was upset for a long time," her mother said. "At about midnight I phoned my sister and said: 'I don't know what to do'.
The girl lay on top of her and eventually fell asleep in the early hours of the morning. "At 6am she woke up, opened her eyes and said: 'Am I safe now? Am I safe?'"
Eleanor Laws QC, prosecuting, asked the mother what she understood Le Vell to have done to her daughter.
She replied: "I believed he had molested and abused her on a regular basis and that there had been a number of rapes."
Le Vell, 48, who plays car mechanic Kevin Webster in the ITV soap and is appearing in court under his real name, Michael Turner, is accused of five counts of rape, three of indecent assault, and two each of sexual activity with a child and causing a child to engage in such activity. He denies all the charges.
The prosecution alleges that he started abusing the girl by slipping his hand under her clothing as she lay in bed. On one occasion he is said to have raped her as she clutched a teddy bear.
He allegedly told her: "It's okay, just keep calm, stay asleep … I'm going to get rid of the evil."
Earlier, as she gave evidence from behind a screen, the girl rejected an assertion by Le Vell's barrister, Alisdair Williamson, that none of the abuse had happened. "It did," she said.
When Williamson questioned why she recalled more now than she had when first interviewed by police, the girl said her memory had been improved by a series of recent flashbacks.
The barrister put it to her that while attending the London conference she had heard a speaker tell of how she had been raped as a five-year-old but then rebuilt her life.
She agreed that she had told relatives in Manchester: "It's alright, I'm part of a special group now."
Williamson said: "You were so excited that your mother thought it weird."
The girl replied: "I was anything but excited."
Laws asked the girl whether there had been anything at the conference that gave her the idea of lying about the defendant. "No," she said.
Miss X said her recollections of the attacks had recently improved, after she re-read transcripts of her three video-link interviews with police.
"I had a lot of flashbacks," she said, sobbing. "Reading it was very difficult because I'd never seen it written down before and it hurt. What he did to me was so wrong and I was so young at the time."
When asked by Laws why she made the allegations the girl replied: "Because they're true".
Laws: "Why continue with them?"
Miss X: "Because they're true."
The barrister then asked: "Have you some kind of vendetta against the defendant, any reason to hate him or want to bring him down?"
"No," the girl said.
The trial continues.
Nigel Bunyantheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Reported by guardian.co.uk 40 minutes ago.
