AN ALLEGED victim of child abuse said the face of his attacker would forever be etched on his mind.

The man was appearing before Dorchester Crown Court in the trial 77-year-old Keith Gilbert, of Emmadale Road Weymouth.

Gilbert is charged with seven counts of indecency against a child under the age of 16 and one more serious sexual offence.

The offences are alleged to have happened in the 70s and 80s against young boys in Weymouth. In cross examination, the alleged victim, who said he was around eight years old at the time of the offences, said: “You don’t mistake a man who did what he did. His face will forever be etched in my head.”

He told the court that he didn’t go to the police before because he felt ashamed. When questioned in cross examination by Robert Pawson over the validity of his memories, he said: “I didn’t forget everything that happened and now I am being asked to recall it 30 years later when the man who did it is sat in front of me – how would you feel?”

The court heard that in interviews with the police, Gilbert denied the allegations. He called the charges ‘abhorrent’ and said he did not know anything about ‘Mr Spider’ – the alleged name he gave his hand so he could abuse a victim. Gilbert denies the charges and the trial continues.