‘I have waited 30 years for justice’

‘I have waited 30 years for justice’

As the guilty verdicts were returned, Robert George Carrel – who preyed on his victim around three decades ago – said the court was a ‘joke’, before fighting with dock officers.

His victim, who broke down in tears as the three-day trial came to a close, said that he was ‘where he deserved to be’ after ‘stealing my childhood’.

The jury of eight women and four men took around one-and-a-half hours to unanimously find Carrel guilty of three counts of procuring an act of gross indecency and one count of indecent assault.

The 63-year-old, who was brought to Jersey on an arrest warrant to face the charges, had previously been jailed for 12 years in 2010 in England for raping a disabled 11-year-old girl and abusing a younger girl. The younger girl gave evidence in this week’s trial.

As he was convicted by Jersey’s Royal Court, Carrel laughed to himself before launching a tirade of abuse at the jury.

He said: ‘I haven’t done anything to be found guilty. How can you find me guilty?

‘What evidence have you found me guilty on? I want to know. What evidence? None.

‘This court is a joke.’

As he was removed from the dock, a scuffle broke out between dock officers and Carrel.

Speaking to the JEP after the verdict, his victim said: ‘I have waited 30 years for justice.

‘I feel relieved that he can’t take anyone else’s innocence away from them like he did to me. He can’t ruin more lives.

‘He is where he deserves to be and he should stay there for the rest of his life.’

Robert George Carrel      Picture: Jon guegan. (24190393)

The court had heard that Carrel would ply the young girl – then aged under ten – with sweets and treats after abusing her.

On two occasions he took her to his flat and coerced the girl into touching him sexually.

The victim had earlier given evidence that she ‘trusted’ Carrel and that he had repeatedly told her she was a ‘good girl’ before giving her presents. It was only as she got older that she realised what had happened to her.

One of Carrel’s victims from England travelled to Jersey to give evidence about the abuse she suffered at his hands. She said that she was also rewarded with money for sweets and treats after the abuse.

Crown Advocate Richard Pedley, prosecuting, had told the court that it was an ‘affront to common sense’ to suggest that two women who had never met could independently come up with such strikingly similar accounts.

However, Advocate James Bell, defending, attempted to persuade the jury that the prosecution had a ‘weak case’ and were attempting to bolster a lack of evidence by bringing a different victim to court. He suggested that Carrel was a ‘good person to wrongly accuse’.

The jury delivered unanimous guilty verdicts after hearing three days of evidence.

Carrel will return to the Royal Court on Friday 29 March when a sentencing date will be set. He was remanded in custody.

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