A JURY has heard that a young girl who has accused a Carterton man of sexually abusing her had interactions with a convicted paedophile in the past. 

Ashley Day, 25, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with two counts of child sex abuse which allegedly started taking place in 2015.

He is accused of kissing a girl and forcing her to touch his penis – which he denies.

READ MORE: Scales of Justice: The latest cases from Oxford Magistrates' Court

Day was subsequently charged with one count of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity on at least 20 occasions as well as one count of sexual activity with a child under 13.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was aged seven when the alleged abuse started, making Day reportedly 16 at the time.

Day, of Bellenger Way, Carterton, denied the offences.

He is expected to tell a jury he ‘doesn’t know’ if the girl was sexually abused but it was not him.

During the trial on Tuesday (August 13), Day’s defence barrister cross-examined the complainant’s mother about other men who could have potentially been abusing the girl instead of Day.

It was heard that the young girl had first confided in her mother about the alleged abuse when she was aged seven but had not mentioned it again until she was a teen.

READ MORE: Children's home employee accused of sexually assaulting young girl

The mother, who cannot be named for legal reason, said she had questioned who it could have been at the time but ‘didn’t have any evidence’ to make a report to police.

When asked if it could have been another male who was living in the house at the time, the mother said: “It was mentioned once.

“It was because we were talking about who could it be, who were the males in the house? I did once [ask him]. I told him about what [the girl] had said and asked was it him.

“He said, ‘Absolutely not, what are you talking about, I would never do something like that’.”

The mother was also asked about whether she had dated a convicted child sex offender and let him stay in the house.

She admitted that she had but he had ‘only stayed over one night’.

READ MORE: Man, 25, on trial accused of sexually abusing seven-year-old

The jury heard that she did not believe the paedophile was ‘a risk’.

It was heard that the man would call the girl by a nickname and she had written him letters when he was recalled to prison for breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

“It was a steep learning curve,” the mother said.

The trial continues.

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