United Kingdom: Girl raped by three generations of family alleges horrific abuse and being locked in cupboard

WARNING: Graphic content

A young girl allegedly raped by three generations of her own family was beaten and locked in a cupboard after confiding in her mother about the abuse, a court heard.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court she was raped and assaulted by her father, grandfather, and two brothers.

The horrific abuse reportedly continued until she was 12 years old, Lewes Crown Court in Hove heard.

The girl’s father stands accused of whipping her with a horse-whip, burning her with cigarettes, and repeatedly raping her.

Her brother, ten years older, allegedly started abusing her when she was six and began raping her at age nine, using bribery or violence if she resisted.

She testified that after telling her mother about the abuse, she was beaten, tied up, locked in a cupboard for days, and burned with lighters and candle wax.

“I told mum and she hit me,” the girl said.

“Mum tied me up with ropes and then locked me in the cupboard for a day or two without feeding me.”

The mother is also accused of beating her with metal and wooden objects and burning her wounds, rubbing salt on them to prevent healing.

In a recorded interview lasting three hours, the girl showed Sussex police the scars on her wrists and arms and said her father burned her as punishment.

She recounted, “He used to burn me with cigarettes a lot,” and added that she was made to cover her injuries with makeup.

“When mum was out, he used to touch me,” she said, referring to her father’s alleged assault.

Her family showed no visible emotion during the court proceedings as the girl, now aged 13, detailed the abuse. The girl has been in foster care since January after telling school staff she feared going home.

She expressed, “I was really scared to go back home because I knew mum and dad would hit me a lot.”

She added, “I told how my parents keep abusing me and they’ve been doing it for years. Then I started explaining all the sexual stuff.”

The girl also accused her grandfather of sexual abuse, saying, “He came round on Christmas Day because he knows we don’t celebrate it and he done it.”

The mother denies the abuse allegations, claiming her daughter is lying and saying the father is “too old to be in prison for life.”

The jury was told the girl might have lied in later police interviews about aspects like being locked in a cupboard, possibly to protect her family. However, prosecution lawyer Jennifer Knight KC said the earlier, detailed accounts of abuse were truthful, and that the girl was likely overwhelmed by the pressure of revealing the truth, especially given her mother’s attempts to blame her.

Six family members face charges including rape, sexual assault, child cruelty, false imprisonment, and perverting the course of justice.