Prince Andrew will give a sworn statement in March in London to the lawyers of a woman who accuses him of sexual assault when she was a minor, a source close to the son of Queen Elizabeth II told AFP on Saturday. AFP. “We have agreed to voluntarily present the Duke of York for a deposition on March 10,” the source said.
The second son and darling of Queen Elizabeth II, 61, is being sued in civil proceedings in New York for sexual abuse by American Virginia Giuffre, 38, a victim of the late American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, in 2001 when she was 17 years, facts that he has always disputed. He asked to be tried in a civil trial. “Despite repeated requests, Virginia Giuffre has still not committed to a date or place for her deposition” to her, said the source close to the Duke of York.
Two witnesses questioned by the plaintiff’s lawyers
This affair embarrasses the British monarchy as the 95-year-old queen prepares to pass the historic milestone of 70 years of reign on Sunday, before popular festivities in June. According to the Daily Telegraph on Saturday, the meeting with lawyers David Boies and Sigrid McCawley, who will travel from the United States, will take place for “regarding two days” in a “neutral” location in the British capital.
The lawyers will then question two witnesses, the newspaper said: Shukri Walker, a woman claiming to have seen Prince Andrew in a London nightclub with a young girl at the time of the alleged attack. Then Robert Olney, an ex-assistant of the prince. The plaintiff’s lawyers did not directly respond to AFP’s requests for comment on Saturday.
Confronting Prince Andrew with ‘his denials’
In January, David Boies said, in a statement sent to AFP, his “eagerness to confront Prince Andrew, his denials and his attempts to blame Virginia Giuffre during his deposition and during a trial “.
VIDEO. Epstein case: Prince Andrew’s accuser begs the British to support her
Prince Andrew has retired from public life since a calamitous BBC interview in 2019 in which he tried to defend himself. In January, he was stripped of his military titles and association patronages by the Queen.
