A Fife tractor driver accused of raping a five-year-old schoolgirl told a jury the allegations are “malicious lies”.
Giving evidence in his own defence, Ian Brown told the High Court at Livingston he had no idea why the youngster had told police he had sexually abused her while she was in his care.
He claimed a large quantity of his semen could have got onto her pink leggings because he used dirty clothing from his bedroom floor to clean himself after having sex with his girlfriend.
The jury earlier heard the youngster say in a joint interview with police and social work Brown had assaulted her and ejaculated over her leggings.
Brown, 35, of Dundas Street, Lochgelly, has pled not guilty to sexually abusing and raping the youngster at an address in Cardenden between January 1 and October 6, 2019.
Brown’s semen on clothing, said police
DNA evidence presented by police forensic scientist Sarah Feesey, 51, showed it was more than 1 billion times more likely the semen on the youngster’s clothes came from the accused, rather than any other individual.
Sergeant Nicola Wise, 30, a detective constable in Fife’s child protection unit, said the girl was reluctant to be medically examined.
She said: “They had to do it under anaesthetic a few days later.”
The girl’s mother – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – videoed her daughter making the claims and sent the film to the police.
Michael Anderson, defending, told her Brown’s position was the youngster had made things up and the mother had been the person behind her doing so.
He added: “To use a colloquialism, you’ve wound her up from the back to say these things.”
She replied: “I can’t tell a six year old to say what she said.”
Accused says claims are lies
The jury was shown a video of Brown’s interview under caution.
He told detectives: “I never touched (the girl). This is all malicious.”
Challenging Brown about his version of events, advocate depute Chris Wilson said: “The truth of the matter is you did the various things libelled to this girl and you raped her - that’s why your semen was found on her leggings, isn’t it?”
Brown replied: “That’s lies.”
Referring to his claims about the semen-stained clothing, he said: “That’s the only thing I can think it could possibly be.
“It would have been a dark room and I’ve not been paying attention.
“There’s always a pile of dirty clothes at the bottom of the bed.”
The trial before Lady Haldane, continues.
