A woman who claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17 has said the royal “knows what he has done” as victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sexual abuse gave evidence in court.
Speaking outside a court in New York, Virginia Giuffre urged the Duke of York to “come clean”. The royal has always strenuously denied claims he was involved in sexual abuse or any wrongdoing alongside Epstein.
Giuffre, who was previously known as Virginia Roberts, has alleged she was forced on three occasions to have sex with Prince Andrew.
When asked for a comment on Prince Andrew during a news conference after the hearing, Giuffre said: “He knows what he’s done and he can attest to that. He knows exactly what he’s done and I hope he comes clean about it.”
In court on Tuesday, she lamented that the financier’s suicide had deprived her the opportunity to obtain justice.
She said: “My hopes were quickly dashed and my dreams were stolen.”
She was one of a succession of women who said Epstein sexually abused them at a young age as they voiced anger and defiance in a packed New York courtroom on Tuesday.
“The fact that I will never have a chance to face my predator in court eats away at my soul,” accuser Jennifer Araoz said during a two-and-a-half hour hearing before US District Judge Richard Berman, who let the women testify despite the fact that Epstein’s death meant he would never face a trial.
“I will not let him win in death,” another woman, Chauntae Davies, told the court.
The dramatic statements, with the women expressing raw emotions and sometimes holding back tears, came less than three weeks after Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges involving dozens of girls as young as 14.
Epstein, who once counted US President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton as friends, was arrested on July 6 and pleaded not guilty.
The wealthy 66-year-old money manager was found dead August 10 in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan. An autopsy concluded that he hanged himself.
Many of the women who testified said Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime Epstein companion, helped him recruit girls and carry out his abuse.
A spokesman for federal prosecutors in Manhattan declined to confirm or deny whether Maxwell or any other specific individual is under investigation. A lawyer for Maxwell could not immediately be reached for comment.