An east Oxford man denies pulling down two girls’ clothing in a Blackbird Leys park – and in one case allegedly touched the girl sexually with a ‘stick’.
Barry Walton was said by the older of his two victims to have given her money ‘not to tell’.
The 61-year-old denies five allegations of sexual assault of a child under-13 by touching. The trial continues.
Opening the case against Walton at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday afternoon, prosecutor Gabrielle McAvock said the alleged abuse came to light when the younger of the two girls told her mum in February 2020 that she had been ‘sexually abused’ by the defendant.
The girl’s mother told staff at her daughter’s school in early March. The alleged abuse of the older girl – said to have taken place when she was a few years’ younger – was reported at the same time.
Both girls, neither of whom can be identified for legal reasons, were subsequently spoken to by specialist detectives at Cowley Police Station.
Ms McAvock said: “[The older girl] said to the police that [Walton] took her to a wooded area to sexually abuse her.”
She told detectives that the defendant had asked her to pull down her clothing and had, on five occasions, touched her sexually ‘using a stick’, the jury heard.
In a second interview, she claimed that Walton ‘forced her to wee in the woods’, Ms McAvock said. He would also pull down her clothing, she said, and ‘if she said no he would do it’. The defendant was said to have got the girl to ‘sit in his lap’.
“She said he gave her money not to tell,” the prosecutor added.
The younger of the two girls told detectives that Walton had ‘pulled her pants down and told her to sit on him’ after taking her to Spindleberry Nature Park in Blackbird Leys, the court heard.
Ms McAvock told jurors that the defendant had been arrested in March 2020, when the alleged abuse was reported to the police.
He was interviewed by detectives on a number of occasions, each time providing a prepared statement through his solicitor.
Walton denied any wrongdoing, it was said, denying the specific allegations made by the girls and saying it was ‘very unusual’ for him to be left alone with either child.
The defendant, of Saunders Road, Oxford, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual assault of a child under-13. The trial continues.
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