Prince Andrew’s lawyers want to question Virginia Giuffre’s husband after the Duke claims she ‘may be suffering from false memories’ | UK News| Today Headlines

Lawyers for Prince Andrew want to question Virginia Giuffre’s husband and his psychologist about his sexual abuse allegations after the royal suggested she may be suffering from ‘false memories’, court documents have revealed.

the Duke of York The legal team have sought permission to give evidence under oath from Robert Giuffre, saying he is likely to have information about his wife’s “alleged emotional and psychological harm”.

Andrew’s lawyers also want to question Mr Giuffre about his wife’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and the claim that Ms Giuffre had a ‘role in recruiting underage girls’ for Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme.

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Andrew’s lawyer, Melissa Lerner, said it was alleged that Mr Giuffre met his wife in Thailand around 2002 while she was attending a massage training course and “recruiting one or more women to perform sex acts for Jeffrey Epstein, who funded the trip.”

A request has also been made to interview Ms Giuffre’s psychologist, Dr Judith Lightfoot, as Andrew’s legal team said they had “relevant information” about his “alleged abuse of Epstein and Maxwell, of childhood abuse and trauma, and claimed emotional and psychological harm and harm.” .

“Dr. Lightfoot’s records (or lack thereof) reflecting (Ms. Giuffre’s) allegations against (Andrew) are relevant to the preparation of her defense for trial,” Ms. Lerner writes.

Andrew’s lawyers have requested to hear from Mr Giuffre and Dr Lightfoot in Australia, where they both reside, by April 29.

The latest court documents contain a summary of Andrew’s defense which says he argues Ms Giuffre ‘may be suffering from false memories’ because her claims about ‘the circumstances in which (he) allegedly assaulted her have changed on several occasions. times over the years”.

Andrew argues that Ms Giuffre’s decision to reveal her identity and participate in media interviews “contributed to any alleged emotional distress and invasion of privacy she claims to have suffered”, the documents say.

The royal denies Ms Giuffre’s accusations ‘in their entirety’ and he believes she claims to have been trafficked by Epstein ‘for the purpose of misappropriating her own involvement’ in the financier’s sex trafficking scheme, according to her summary of defense.

This included recruiting young women “to become sexual partners for Epstein”, at least one of whom was as young as 14, according to the Duke’s lawyers.

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This comes after Ms Giuffre’s lawyers researched testimonials of Andrew’s former assistant Robert Olney and a woman called Shukri Walker, who claims to have seen the royal “with a young girl” at London’s Tramp nightclub.

Documents submitted by Ms Giuffre’s legal team indicate that Mr Olney’s name appears in Jeffrey Epstein’s telephone book under “Duke of York”.

They say this means it is likely that Mr Olney has relevant information about Andrew’s travels to and from Epstein’s properties during the relevant period.

The documents say Ms Walker allegedly saw Andrew ‘with a young girl around the time that (Ms Giuffre) claims Prince Andrew abused her in London after visiting the Tramp nightclub’.

The Duke faces a civil trial later this year after Judge Kaplan rejected his attempt to have the case thrown out.

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Ms Giuffre is suing Andrew in the US for allegedly sexually assaulting her as a teenager and claims she was trafficked by Andrew’s friend, convicted sex offender Epstein, to have sex with the Duke at the age of 17.

Andrew strenuously denied the allegations.

Following the judge’s decision to allow the civil trial to proceed, the Queen stripped Andrew of all his military titles and royal patronages – and it was announced that he would no longer be called “His Royal Highness”.

During this time, Maxwell will be sentenced at the end of June after being found guilty of recruiting underage girls to be sexually abused by her ex-boyfriend, Epstein, who took his own life in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.