Radio DJ denies teenage boy sex assault
AMAN claims a popular radio DJ sexually assaulted him when he was a boy in the 1980s, a court has heard.
Kevin Johns, of Gorseinon, Swansea, denies two counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 16 in Swansea in the 1980s.
The 60-year-old appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court for trial yesterday.
Opening the case for the prosecution, barrister Elen Owen told the court the alleged incident happened in the 1980s when Johns was in his 20s and the alleged victim was in his early teens.
Ms Owen said police began investigating the allegations in 2019 after the alleged victim’s sister told police
her brother had been abused as a boy. He was then traced and confirmed to a police officer what his sibling had said.
Yesterday the jury was shown a video of an interview carried out with the alleged victim at Swansea Central police station.
In the interview, the witness described how Johns began talking to him, asking him if he had a girlfriend, and whether he “played with himself”.
He said he was “totally naive” and didn’t know what was going on. He said Johns began “pushing the boundaries”, and had a “certain charm and persuasiveness about him”.
The man said, after talking to him, Johns exposed his own privates and encouraged the alleged victim to touch him.
He said he pulled away, and was encouraged to rub Johns’ privates.
He said he felt a tremendous amount of guilt about what happened.
He said he “put a lid on it” and doesn’t think people really understand what it’s like.
“It feels like I’m stuck in a room with no doors,” he said.
Prosecutors said the two allegations of indecent assault relate to a single incident.
One count relates to an allegation that the defendant had the boy perform oral sex on him, and the other relates to getting the boy to masturbate him.
The alleged victim of the abuse has lifelong anonymity. In the police interview, the alleged victim said he felt a tremendous amount of guilt about what happened.
He said he was too afraid to ask for help and blames himself for not stopping it happening.
“I think he just saw an opportunity of some sort of sexual gratification,” the alleged victim said.
“He took his chance… I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t know if I was an experiment for him, I don’t know.”
In the interview, the alleged victim added: “I might sound thick but I genuinely had no idea what was happening.”
The alleged victim said after the incident Johns told him not to say anything to anyone or he would be in trouble.
“I know it sounds pathetic… 40 years ago the world was a different place, it did not seem as harsh,” the witness said.
“You could live in a bubble. And I was totally naive. I didn’t want to do it but I felt I had to do it. He was very persistent, very, very persistent. He was really badgering.”
Referring to his sister reporting the abuse to the police, the witness said: “I didn’t have the choice. I didn’t have control. That was taken out of my hands.
“But I’m here now after fate intervened. I have the opportunity to put right what happened before.
“People have told me it’s not my fault – it is easy to say but not easy to believe it.”
The trial continues.