AN elderly man is on trial charged with the indecent assault of a five-year-old girl in the early 2000s.
George Hall, 70, has been charged with two counts of indecent assault and two counts of indecency with a child between September 1, 1998, and September 1, 2001.
A trial started at Reading Crown Court on Tuesday (March 28) as Hall denies all the allegations.
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The jury heard that the allegations took place in Old Windsor when the complainant who cannot be named for legal reasons, was aged between five and six.
She said that Hall would ‘babysit her’ during the day and sometimes overnight and during that time allegedly gave her treats such as Lucozade, sweeties, and chocolate.
It is the Crown’s case that Hall would then abuse the girl in his bedroom by making her touch his penis. It is alleged this happened on at least three occasions.
The now adult woman reported the incidents to the police in August 2020 after seeing the defendant walk past her place of work causing her to have a panic attack.
Taking to the witness stand, the woman said: “[I remember] he was just nice. We would watch TV together.
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“I would be arranged between him and my mum or I’d say to him in the day I’ll stay over, I can’t recall exactly how it would be arranged.
“I always wore nighties and he would wear pants. They had a hole in them which he used to call, ‘the window to his willy’.
“He would put my hand through the hole and get me to touch him. I remember that it wasn’t comfortable and I didn’t like it.”
When asked why she didn’t tell her family or report the incident for many years, the woman said: “He was really, really nice to [my mum] and would help her out.
“I didn’t want to upset anyone or get anyone in any trouble and I didn’t really realise that it was bad.”
When she saw the defendant outside her workplace, she described feeling ‘sick and unsafe’ leading to her making a police report.
Hall, of Church Road, in Old Windsor, denies the allegations. In a police interview he said he ‘strongly denies’ the allegations of sexual assault. He said he remembers her and her family but ‘it was over 20 years ago’.
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“I never abused her,” he said. “Or kept in touch with her or babysat her."
The trial continues.
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