A Belfast man has denied sexually abusing four teenage girls at his mother's Turf Lodge home.
James Quinn (56) from Indiana Avenue on Belfast's Antrim Road, is accused of 12 sex offences involving the girls aged from 13 to 15 allegedly committed between August 1994 and March last year. Quinn is accused of indecently assaulting all four girls, committing gross indecency with one of them and enticing another to commit gross indecency.
The first of his alleged victims broke down while giving evidence and threatened to have nothing to do with the case. Giving evidence via a TV link up, the girl, who claimed she had attempted suicide because of the abuse, said Quinn had "touched" her and offered her money if she would have sex with him, but that she finally confided in others after going on a religious retreat with her school.
During cross examination by Mr Tony Cinamond QC, the girl agreed she was "a qualified actress", but rejected suggestions that she was lying and that Quinn had never laid a finger on her. The teenager said she had been "shocked and horrified" by Quinn's behaviour. But she admitted that despite this she returned to Quinn's mother's home again and again, initially claiming it was out of her concern for Quinn's elderly mother.
It was while being continually pressed as to why she should return to the house that the girl asked counsel why after giving evidence about her ordeal, she was being made "to go over and over it". Judge David Smyth intervened and was explaining to the girl that Mr Cinamond was only doing his job. At that point, the girl was seen on the court TV monitors, disappearing off screen crying - "You're saying that I'm lying, well you can say that - I'm away home".
The court was adjourned for a time but later the girl agreed to continue with her evidence. She claimed that Quinn had threatened to kill her if she did not return to the house. The case continues today.