A woman told a jury how she was showered with gifts when she was a primary schoolgirl by the man she claims repeatedly sexually abused her.
Giving evidence at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday on the first day of the trial of 49-year-old Christopher Mackay of Torrisdale, Skerray, Sutherland, the witness said the assaults continued until she was 13.
“By that time I knew what was happening and didn’t want to be near him.
“I thought I was a prostitute,” she told fiscal depute Robert Weir. Mackay denies seven charges of using lewd, libidinous and indecent practices and one sexual assault between October 1990 and December 2014, relating to three alleged victims.
The witness told jurors she was eight when she was first assaulted by Mackay. She said he had attacked her as she lay on a mattress.
She added: “He gave me £5 telling me ‘This is just for you’.”
The witness wept as she described the years of abuse she suffered and how she would cross her legs or turn her back to try to make him stop.
“He would give me £5, £10 or £20 notes or the change in his pocket. Other times I got branded trainers and a denim jacket.
“I have not stopped thinking about it all my life. Then I heard he had a girlfriend with young children. I felt it was not right to keep it secret. I had the final realisation that the right thing to do was to come forward. I couldn’t go on any more like this.”
Defence advocate Lorenzo Alonzi asked the woman if there could be an ulterior motive to her claims. She replied: “Absolutely not.”
The trial continues.