Judge reminds jurors there is no standard timeframe for victims to come forward as trial reaches final stage

A JURY has been told that allegations at the centre of a historic child sexual abuse trial first emerged following a psychic tarot card reading, as the case reached its final stage at Swansea Crown Court.

Thomas Kirk, aged 50, of Meyler Crescent, Milford Haven, denies orally raping and sexually assaulting a child aged between thirteen and fifteen in Pembrokeshire between 2007 and 2008.

The allegations relate to a single alleged incident said to have taken place more than fifteen years ago at a property where both the defendant and the complainant were present at the time.

Summing up the case on Wednesday (Dec 17), His Honour Paul Thomas KC reminded jurors of evidence that the complainant first disclosed the allegation in 2021 after attending a session with a psychic medium who was conducting a tarot card reading.

The jury heard that during the reading, the name “Tommy” repeatedly arose. The complainant became silent, and the medium suggested there may have been a sexually violent past involving the complainant.

Defence counsel Alan Wright told the jury this led the complainant to later say: “The more I think about it happening, the more I can remember something happening.”

The court heard that the complainant later described a single incident occurring when she was aged fourteen or fifteen, while her mother was at work. She was unable to recall the precise time and could not remember whether the defendant ejaculated.

The defence invited jurors to consider whether the circumstances in which the allegation first surfaced were relevant when assessing memory and reliability.

In his legal directions, the judge told jurors there is no standard timeframe in which a victim of sexual abuse must come forward.

Prosecuting, Robin Rouch told the court it took several years for the complainant to disclose the allegation, first telling her partner and then a close friend, before reporting it to police.

Mr Rouch said the accounts given to her partner and friend were consistent with the account later given to police, and submitted that this supported her credibility.

He told jurors: “It is plain that you have been deliberately lied to by Mr Kirk.”

Jurors were reminded of evidence from the former partner of the defendant, who told the court she had no memory of ever returning to the property in question to find the defendant drunk on the night in question and had no knowledge of him actively drinking alcohol at that time.

The court heard the defendant’s medical records from the relevant period showed he was receiving support for smoking cessation, with no indicators of alcohol misuse recorded.

The witness also told the court there had never been any sexually violent behaviour towards her from he defendant, and that she had not observed any sexually inappropriate behaviour towards the complainant.

The judge reminded jurors that Kirk has no previous history of sexual violence.

Giving evidence, Kirk accepted he may have let people down in various ways but told the court he had never sexually abused the complainant.

In concluding his summing up, the judge reminded jurors it was for them alone to decide which evidence they accepted and whether the prosecution had made them sure of the defendant’s guilt.

The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict later today.

The case continues.