A teenager described to the Supreme Court yesterday how she told her mother she had been raped and molested by a man who was trusted by the family.

The young woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said she kept the secret for years because she did not think anyone would believe her.

She told the court: “As I was crying, I told my mother that he had been raping me and molesting me since a young age.

“I told her very slowly and I didn’t go into details. My mother, she couldn’t take all that I was telling her.

“She kept shaking her head and she started to cry. She couldn’t look at me.”

The witness added: “I was tired of being touched by him. I was tired of holding in everything.

“I was another person in school — I would be happy and bright — but when I was home by myself, I was just quiet and sad.”

A 58-year-old Devonshire man has denied charges of sexually touching the girl while in a position of trust and having unlawful carnal knowledge.

The witness testified this week that the man had touched her sexually in the bathroom of the family home while she was still in primary school.

And she recalled further incidents that took place while she was in middle school.

In one, she said he sexually touched her in his office, and in another she said he forcibly had sex with her in her bedroom.

On the latter occasion, she said he dared her to tell other people about what had happened because no one would believe a “little girl”.

As the trial continued yesterday, the teenager recalled a fourth incident, which occurred when she was 15.

She told the court that the defendant had taken her to a “makeshift gym” at his workplace.

The witness said when they arrived there, he helped her do bench presses. She said after a set, she went to a fan to cool off until he called her back for another.

She said she lay on the bench, but instead of standing over her head as before, he remained in front of her.

The witness said: “He had a smile on his face. It wasn’t a sincere smile. His smile was fake.”

She said he then pulled off her leggings and raped her on the bench.

The witness told the court: “My arms were sore. I didn’t have any energy to push back and I didn’t have the guts to say anything.

“I just cried and cried.”

She told the court she told no one about that attack — or any of the previous incidents — for another year because she did not think she would be believed.

The teenager told the court that when she was young she had a hard time making friends at school, so she would lie to her family to get attention.

But she said she was telling the truth in her accusations against the defendant.

“I wouldn’t lie on him,” she said. “He knows what he did. He scarred me and made me feel like I was nothing.

“Right now I feel like everyone is watching me and I feel like it’s my fault because I held this in for so long. Now all you can do is question things.

“Is she telling the truth? Is she lying? I don’t care about your opinion. I’m just telling you my story.”

She added: “It’s true. This really happened to me, and it messed me up.”

The witness testified that the truth came out after she told her mother she was concerned about a possible sexually transmitted disease.

She said: “I looked at her and I started to cry.”

The next day, the witness said she made a voice recording about three of the four incidents on her mother’s phone, but did not mention the incident in her bedroom.

She said she didn’t want to bring up that incident in front of her mother because it was the first occasion the defendant had forced her into sex.

The pair went to the Hamilton Police Station that evening and to report the incidents to officers.

The trial continues.

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