Andrew’s lawyers say his accuser has changed her story
PRINCE Andrew has accused the woman suing him for rape of being unable to get her story straight.
In the latest salvo of a highstakes legal action brought by Virginia Roberts in the US, the duke’s lawyers are pushing for the case to be thrown out, labelling the claims ‘ambiguous at best and unintelligible at worst’.
Allegations that she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17 were first made in court papers in 2015 and the nowmother-of-three has repeated them many times in interviews over the years.
The Queen’s second son, 61, has always denied her claims in the strongest of terms. And his lawyers say her claim for unspecified damages, brought under her married name of Giuffre, lacks real detail.
In an 11-page filing to the court in New York yesterday, Andrew’s Hollywood-based legal firm wrote: ‘Giuffre’s refusal to include anything but the most conclusory allegations is puzzling given her pattern of disclosing to the media the purported details of the same allegations included in the complaint.
‘Perhaps it is Giuffre’s tendency to change her story that prompted her to keep the allegations of the complaint vague, so as not to commit to any specific account.’
Andrew’s side will also argue that because she was above the age of consent in New York at the time of the alleged offences, Mrs Giuffre, now 38, must instead prove she was forced to have sex with him against her will.
The lawyers argue that her legal team has attempted to do this, by claiming there was an ‘implied threat’, but said these claims cannot be substantiated.
The documents add: ‘These highly subjective determinations are the kind most likely to be hampered by the passage of time, as memories fade, false memories are created, and witnesses die or otherwise become unavailable.’
The prince’s lawyers also referred to a 2009 compensation deal that Mrs Giuffre struck with Epstein, which they believe bars her from suing Andrew. The details are under seal of the court, but last night the court said the agreement will be made public in early January. The only redaction will be the amount of money she was paid.
Mrs Giuffre alleges she slept with Andrew in 2001 in London, New York and the Caribbean when she was Epstein’s ‘sex slave’.
A full hearing will be held in New York on January 4 when Judge Lewis Kaplan will decide whether to dismiss the case or allow it to proceed to trial.