A 79-year-old man told a jury yesterday he did not know why four women had come forward to claim he had sexually abused them when they were children.
Angus Grant, 79, of Ceol na Mara, 3 Vaul, isle of Tiree, has pleaded not guilty to using indecent practices towards the girls at various locations over a period stretching from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, and went on trial at Oban Sheriff Court this week.
Grant gave evidence yesterday and was asked by his defence advocate Sarah Livingstone: “Do you know why these women are saying you did these things to them?”
He replied: “I have no idea why they started this at all.”
He said there was never anything sexual with any of the girls.
The court previously heard one of the women give evidence that she was abused at Grant’s house in Glasgow on one occasion when she was only three.
She cried as she told the jury that the alleged indecency happened in his bed.
But Grant told the court: “I didn’t do it. She was lying beside me. I gave her a cuddle, we spoke away to each other. There was nothing sexual.”
Fiscal Eoin McGinty asked Grant: “You can remember vividly this single occasion when this girl came in to your bed? Why?”
“I don’t know,” Grant answered.
The alleged victims cannot be identified for legal reasons.
The first woman claims she was interfered with by Grant when she was between the ages of five and 11.
The second woman said that when she was aged between seven and 11 he exposed himself at her, made her touch him and fondled her intimately.
The third woman said she was abused by Grant on one occasion when she was three.
The fourth said she was abused on occasions between the ages of four and 11.
The trial continues.