Alleged abuser protests innocence at Bournemouth Crown Court (From Dorset Echo)

Alleged abuser protests innocence at Bournemouth Crown Court

10:30am Monday 28th January 2013 in News By Julie Magee

AN alleged rapist accused of sexually abusing three young girls over three decades has protested his innocence.

Kenneth Freemantle, 56, pleads not guilty to two rapes, 10 indecent assaults and one sexual assault in the Poole area from 1980.

Giving evidence at Bournemouth Crown Court, Freemantle from Fortunes-well, Portland, insisted the historic allegations, involving a 10-year-old girl and two other children, were untrue.

Questioned by defence barrister David Richards, the former pizza takeaway manager denied molesting any of his alleged victims, who are now adults and cannot be identified for legal reasons.

He told jurors how he had decorated the lounge of one of his alleged victims and given her tobacco during frequent visits to her home.

Mr Richards asked: “Did you ever touch her sexually?” Freemantle replied: “No, I never touched her at all.”

Mr Richards asked: “Did you do any of the sexual things to her she describes?” Freemantle answered: “No.” Freemantle vehemently denied trying to kiss another alleged victim but admitted giving one a black eye, insisting it had been “an accident and during play fighting”.

He said she had gone to hospital after suffering “quite a bad shiner”.

He denied going into one of his alleged victim’s bedrooms and massaging her, saying: “No, that is not true.”

When quizzed about one of the rape allegations, he said: “No, I never touched her at all; nor any of the others.”

Earlier, the court heard how Freemantle, who was arrested and interviewed by police in May last year, claimed that the allegations had stemmed from “an act of revenge” by three of the women.

During cross-examination by prosecutor Nicholas Rowland, Freemantle des-cribed the charges as ‘complete invention,’ adding: “Nothing like that happened whatsoever.”

The case continues.